Rabies and Spots
by azurefang
Summary: Time period Season 2, after deaths of Luka and his father. An odd thing happens to Damon. Stelena,Damon,Bonnie, Katherine.
1. Chapter 1

RABIES AND SPOTS

A/N This story takes place during Season 2 when Elena and Stefan were together and after the deaths of Jonas and Luka Martin. An odd thing happens to Damon. The story includes Damon, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and Katherine. This was my first attempt to write a Vampire Diaries fan fiction story, even though I didn't publish it until now.

Chapter 1

"Rabies"

As the sun sank lower Stefan stopped on the porch before opening the front door for Elena. Instead, he slipped his arms around her and drew her up against him. She came willingly, her arms going around him. In a moment their lips met, first in a light kiss and then with more passion as tongues explored.

Stefan moved back a bit and murmured, "Mm mm. You taste of chocolate."

"No surprise there," Elena chuckled. "That hot fudge sundae at the Grill was sinful. By some coincidence, you taste like strawberries." She had watched him consume a strawberry sundae.

"I suppose the burgers, fries and sundaes were not the most nutritious of meals," Stefan said, grinning.

"No. I shouldn't have had the ice cream. I'm the one who has to watch my weight, not you." Sometimes she was jealous that vampires didn't gain fat weight. In addition, Stefan was not a big eater of real food. He preferred fresh animal blood.

"Your weight is just perfect," Stefan said, running his hands down her sides and cupping them around her buttocks. She was slender, but not thin. He pressed her against his pelvis for just a moment. He was saving the intimate stimulation for later, assuming that she would stay the night here at his house for a change. Lately, he had been staying some nights at hers, in her bed.

They turned to the door, which he found unlocked. Judging by the classic Camero parked in the driveway, he assumed his brother was home. Sometimes the front door was left unlocked, sometimes not. He followed Elena into the foyer of the large house, where she set her purse on the antique table there. She had been in the house so often that he thought it must feel like a second home, even though it belonged to the Salvatores, represented by him and his brother Damon. Stefan was right behind her as she moved to the large open doorway to the study. She stopped dead in her tracks and gasped.

Stefan looked over her shoulder and saw his older brother lying on the floor. Alarmed, he moved toward him, coming up behind him, since the young man was lying on his left side and facing the other way. Kneeling down and fearing for Damon, he touched his shoulder and leaned over to see his face. The natural look of Damon's skin told him that he was alive.

"Damon!" he said, shaking his brother's shoulder. Damon took a breath, groaned and shuddered, but otherwise didn't respond or start breathing regularly.

Elena, who had gone around to Damon's front, knelt down, frowned and said, "Why is so much saliva running out of his mouth? I've never seen that before!"

"What? Elena, don't touch him!" He hadn't noticed the pool of wetness on the wooden floor.

About to touch Damon's face, Elena snatched her hand back.

Stefan leaned over his brother and looked at the saliva drooling from his mouth. It was much more than a little normal drool, especially since vampires normally didn't drool.

"What is it? It's not from vervain?" she asked, knowing the herbal chemical knocked a vampire out or made him weak for a period of time.

"Vervain doesn't make us drool. It's got to be something else with all that saliva. Don't touch him until I figure it out." There was a liquor glass on the hardwood floor near Damon and Stefan picked it up carefully. He sniffed it, but could only smell the liquor. Vervain had a very faint odor, which he was sure was not there. Of course, it could have been injected with a needle. But something else was going on here. Was there something else in the drink? Some sort of poison?

"Do you see any blood on him? A cut or scrape or any needle mark?" he asked, and he watched Elena's eye rove from Damon's hair to his shoes. Due to the clothing, there wasn't much skin to see.

"No. None on your side, I take it."

"No," Stefan said as his eyes ran over the back of Damon's shirt and jeans. "There's a disease vampires can get, or can be given, that is a bit like rabies."

"Rabies! My God, Stefan! How could he get that? A rabid dog bite? A rabid werewolf bite?" They both knew there was a werewolf or two in town.

"It's not rabies like a dog gets. Not the same disease, but it's called that because of some similarities. It overcomes a vampire as fast as vervain does. It causes a lot of drooling and 'foaming at the mouth'. It can be transferred from one vampire to another by a bite or a scratch. If it was injected by someone, there should be a needle mark. In any case, the scratch or wound or injection site won't heal. I'm going to see if I can find it. I'll have to take his clothes off."

"Isn't that dangerous for you?"

"I need to be careful if that is what we're dealing with. I'm not sure. I really don't know. I've never actually seen a case of vampire rabies," Stefan said, really worried.

He took a moment to look around the room and to listen carefully.

"What?" Elena asked, looking alarmed. "Did you hear someone?"

"No. Just wondering if Damon's attacker is still in the house," Stefan said. He sniffed the air, but all he would smell was his brother's drink and Elena's blood, coursing through her body. He had learned to shut that fragrance from his mind, but he could smell it now. He looked at Elena and shook his head to reassure her. "I don't think anyone else if in the house now."

"Could this affect _me_?" she asked, when he turned his attention back to his brother. Stefan, being a vampire, had to be careful, but what about her, a human?

"I don't think so, but just don't get that saliva on you." He laid a hand on Damon's hip in preparation to turning him onto his back.

They both gave a start when Damon's body jerked and he groaned, but then he lay still again. Stefan wished he had a pair of rubber gloves, but he didn't. Normally, there was nothing he could not touch. Except vervain. He started his search by moving his fingers through his brother's dark hair, parting it, looking for a cut or a scrape that had not healed or even a needle stick mark, some point of entry for the disease or a drug. Or some indication that the problem really was the so-called "vampire rabies."

"You look like a monkey looking for lice," Elena said, a twinkle in her eyes. Then she realized the humor was inappropriate for the moment. "Sorry. This isn't funny."

"Well, I don't see any lice or fleas. No scratch either," Stefan said with a snort.

He also felt for any bump that might indicate that someone had hit the young man on the head. Damon had thick, almost-black hair and he often let it get longish. It was much darker than Stefan's own light brown hair with its lighter highlights. Stefan's dark green eyes were certainly different from Damon's light blue ones, but there was still a family resemblance in the brothers.

He did not put his fingers under Damon's head to feel his scalp on the left side because the hair there was wet with saliva. He examined the side of Damon's face that was exposed, but he didn't touch anywhere around the mouth. As Elena had observed, there was a large puddle of saliva on the floor under Damon's face and head.

Stefan touched the edge of Damon's chin and lifted it to get a better look at his neck. Vampire men grew beards, but very slowly, so that they did not shave daily. Damon had not shaved for days and there was short, dark stubble on his skin. There were no wounds, nicks or scratches, however small, on the exposed part of his face or neck.

"I'm going to put him on his back so you can see that side," Stefan said, and he gripped Damon's shoulder and hip and rolled him over. Damon shook all over for a moment, like a shudder, groaned again, and then lay still. He wasn't breathing nor was his heart beating, which was normal when vampires were unconscious or deeply asleep. As quickly as possible, Stefan unbuttoned the blue shirt and exposed Damon's chest and abdomen. There was no sign of a needle stick or wound.

"Do you see anything on that side of his face or neck?" he asked.

"No, nothing," Elena said, looking, but not touching the damp skin or hair. Damon was a handsome fellow, but he looked unusually pale right now. "Is this deadly? For him, I mean."

"I don't know. As I said, I've never actually seen vampire rabies before. I just heard a couple of conflicting stories. I may be wrong about what it is. Watch out!"

Damon jerked, made a gurgling sound, coughed on the saliva pooling in the back of his throat and it sprayed out of his open mouth. Both Elena and Stefan jerked back momentarily. The coughing effort obviously caused pain, for Damon gave a strangled cry as his body spasmed and then lay still.

"He is so touchy. I don't know if he's in pain or his nerves are touchy. Regardless, we need to turn him to look for wounds," Stefan said, frowning with concern, as he quickly rolled Damon onto his left side again, causing another brief spasm. Every time Damon was moved, his body stiffened, which was worrisome, in addition to whatever the underlying cause was. At the moment, he relaxed and became limp again.

"I think you're right, every movement must hurt him," Elena observed. "Or his nerves are super sensitive."

"Yeah. I think it's one of the main symptoms of the rabies."

Stefan gently pulled the shirt sleeve off his brother's right arm. An inspection of the arm and side of the chest showed nothing, nor was there any mark on the area of the back that Stefan could see.

"I'm going to get some towels out of the bathroom down the hall" Elena said and she hurried in that direction.

Stefan sat back on his heels and studied his brother. Although the brothers were similar in size and build, Damon was annoyingly different from Stefan in personality, liking to make a joke of almost anything and often expressing hostile feelings toward his younger brother. As a vampire, he was much quicker to kill than Stefan.

Although his face was now relaxed and expressionless, he normally had a very mobile face and used it to make a lot of mocking or scornful looks. Too often he had voiced anger, even hatred to Stefan's face, and yet they were brothers. They were sharing a house. Damon had come to Stefan's rescue several times. And they were quick to join forces when faced with a common enemy as they were these days. If it were Stefan lying on the floor like this, Damon would seek answers to find help.

"What has happened to you, brother?" Stefan muttered. Damon looked helpless, vulnerable and even innocent in his present state.

Stefan stuffed the shirt under Damon's left side, so that when they rolled him onto his back again, they could pull the shirt free to the other side.

Elena came back with an armful of towels. She knelt in front of Damon again and put the towels on the floor beside her. Picking one up, she carefully slid it into position to absorb the pool of saliva by Damon's mouth.

"I'll lift his head and you can slide that under," Stefan said. He grabbed a fistful of the dry hair, lifted his brother's head and watched Elena shove the towel well underneath.

Damon shuddered even from this small movement and then once again lay still. His eyes were part way open with a bit of the blue irises showing. His mouth was also part way open, showing the edge of his even white teeth. He was drooling steadily.

"He looks so young right now," she said. She was only seventeen herself, a high school student. When Damon was upright and being his annoying self, he seemed much older, but in truth he was just twenty four, plus all the years he'd been a vampire, of course. Way too often he said or did things that angered or embarrassed Elena. He took pleasure in seeing her react.

She looked at Stefan, who tended to look anywhere between seventeen and twenty something, and she thought that he too looked young and vulnerable in his fear over Damon's condition. "What should we do?"

"I still want to see if he has an unhealed wound," Stefan said. He lifted the upper edge of Damon's tight jeans as they curved over his hip. There was no belt. "No underwear."

He looked at Elena and she could see that he wanted to remove the jeans, but not in front of her.

"I won't look if you don't want me to, Stefan, but I know what a man looks like. As you very well know." A hint of a smile touched her lips. She certainly knew that, since they had been sleeping together.

Stefan loved Elena and was possessive and protective to a degree and he did not want her observing the private parts of other men, including Damon's.

"We'll put one of the towels over Damon for modesty's sake," Elena said, and she picked up one of the bath towels. While Damon was still covered with his jeans, she held the towel up in front of her face while Stefan again rolled Damon onto his back. As Stefan undid the jeans and worked them down a bit lower, Elena let go of her towel with her right hand and grabbed a smaller towel. She draped it over Damon's mouth so he wouldn't cough on them again. Then, with a hint of a smile, she again blocked her view of Damon with the larger towel, although she could see Stefan's eyes over it.

"I'm going to check the front first," Stefan said, and he felt odd inspecting his brother's groin area. Seeing no sign of injury, he laid one of the other towels across Damon's hips. "Okay. He's covered."

He knew as well as Elena did that Damon would not have cared if she saw him naked. He was a handsome devil with a good body, including his private parts, and he had no trouble pleasing the ladies. Unfortunately, he sometimes killed them by sucking up too much of their blood.

Despite the fact that Damon groaned and shuddered each time he was moved, Stefan worked the jeans down on the side nearest him, while Elena did the same on her side until they were down around his ankles. There was nothing on either hip or the visible part of his legs. Elena also pulled the shirt from Damon's left arm and looked at the left side and arm. Again, there was nothing except the imprint of his clothes and a crack in the floor boards.

Stefan was about to turn Damon onto his side again for a check of the backside, when Damon started gurgling and coughing, his body spasming at the same time. Stefan flipped his brother over onto his side and all towels fell away.

Elena's eyes were on Damon's mouth. "Oh, God," she said. "He's foaming at the mouth!" Obviously, the saliva that had pooled in the back of his throat was now frothy and spilling from his mouth, bubbling up onto his lips and running down to the floor. He sort of had a "mad dog" look to him.

Stefan tried not to think of how bad the situation was. He reached for the larger towel and dragged it up over Damon's hip. At the same time, he saw what he had hoped not to find.

"Damn. Here it is," he said.

A/N Because I wrote this some time ago, I have the next chapter ready to go, IF anyone out there thinks this might be an interesting story. Please let me know if I should keep at this.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N I'm not getting much response to this story, so I may not continue it. In the meantime, here is Chapter 2. Thanks to those of you who did review.

Chapter 2

"Colostrum"

Feeling both relief that he had found a clue and anger at the proof that someone had done this deliberately, Stefan swore briefly. He held the towel on Damon's hip, but raised the part hanging over the buttock.

Elena leaned across Damon's body and could see the angry red blotch on the right buttock's pale skin. In the center of the redness was a small wound likely made by a hypodermic needle. A drop of clear pinkish fluid slowly leaked out. The red blotch itself was somewhat circular and about two inches across.

"Who could get close enough to him to inject him with anything? Never mind, I guess any number of women could. Surely Katherine wouldn't do that," Elena said, frowning.

"No. I honestly don't think she would stoop this low. I wonder where she is. She might know what to do. I sure as hell don't." Stefan stood up and looked down at Damon, partly covered by a towel, his jeans down around his ankles and foamy spit on his face. He suddenly felt embarrassed on Damon's behalf. Someone could just walk in the front door and find a strange scene in the study.

"I want to get him upstairs to his bedroom," he grimly said to Elena. "You know which one is his." When she nodded, he added, "Put towels on the pillows and about where his butt will be."

When Elena had left to go upstairs, Stefan sighed with anger and frustration, leaned down and put Damon over on his back again. He put a clean towel over Damon's mouth, adjusted the one on his pelvis to hang down between his legs, and slipped his arms under his brother's shoulders and thighs, easily lifting him. Damon groaned, coughed, his body stiffened, then relaxed.

In the bedroom, Stefan laid Damon on his left side again on the large bed and put an afghan over him. He then removed Damon's shoes (no socks) and the jeans. Then, remembering that the injection site was leaking, he adjusted the thick towel Elena had put on the bed so it was under Damon's rear end and hip.

He and Elena stood for a minute just watching Damon drool. Now and then his body twitched. In between the occasional spasm, groan or cough, he lay still without breathing.

"I wonder if some of my blood would help him," Stefan finally said.

"Or mine?" Elena offered.

"No, not yours," Stefan said firmly. He went into the big bathroom off the bedroom and found a glass on the counter by an electric toothbrush. Because Damon drank quite a bit of blood, he was good at brushing his teeth and using mouthwash.

Using his own fangs, Stefan sliced into his arm and let some blood run into the glass. The wound healed and he sliced again. He thought he had enough to do some good, so he took the glass back to the bedroom. He asked Elena to hold it and she did.

"I'm going to sit him up a little and see if I can get this blood down his throat," he said, and he climbed onto the bed. Using a towel, he slid a hand under Damon's head, lifted it and turned it facing upward and resting on his, Stefan's, thigh. After the expected spasm, Damon's jaw went slack with his mouth part way open, so Stefan took the glass from Elena and poured the blood in.

Normally, a vampire would automatically swallow blood; however, Damon choked on it. His tongue moved around in his mouth, but the blood did not go down the right way. He coughed and red foam gathered around his mouth and spattered about.

"He can't swallow!" Stefan said in distress. He laid Damon's head back down, turned to the side. Leaning back against the headboard, he watched Elena use a towel to carefully wipe the mess from Damon's face and neck. She was gentle and he wondered what she was thinking. Obviously she was worried about his brother, but he had no way of knowing if she was in any way attracted to Damon. She didn't seem to be, but who knew? She finished with his face and neck, and then placed a fresh towel over the blood spattered on the pillow.

Stefan sat there feeling a bit helpless. The stress showed on his face and in his tone of voice as he spoke. "We've got to find Katherine and hope she knows what to do. I don't think this is something we can just Google."

"I think you're right about that. Maybe even Bonnie might help. She has some good old books. I'll call her." She reached for her cell phone in the pocket of her slacks. The young witch Bonnie had no friendly feelings toward Damon, but she would help if Elena asked. At the same time, Elena had no way of phoning Katherine and neither did Stefan.

He looked at the bedroom window and saw that the sun had gone down. In fact, the bedroom was slowly darkening. It didn't interfere with Stefan's vision, but it made it a bit harder for Elena. He reached over and turned on a bedside lamp. The sunset also meant that Katherine was likely out and about. Although she could walk in the sun like Stefan and Damon, she was normally an evening and night person by choice.

Stefan got off the bed and paced back and forth in the room while Elena talked to Bonnie. He could hear Bonnie's side of the conversation as well as Elena's as the latter explained. When Elena ended the call, she looked hopeful.

"She said she would look in her books. Something about this 'rings a bell', she said."

Stefan wondered if a witch's spell could cure Damon. Then he shook his head and told himself it wouldn't be that simple. He was angry that someone would do this to his brother. "I'm going to _kill_ whoever did this," he said aloud, facing Elena. He knew that she knew that he meant it.

"Stefan, what is the point of doing this to him? I mean, is he going to die or is he going to linger for a long time? Is it going to cause him some permanent damage if he recovers? I don't see the reasoning."

"It seems like I heard of some vampire lingering for years, sometimes awake and suffering. Sometimes more like this. But I don't know the true story. As for why, hell, Damon has made lots of enemies."

That's awful. I'm sorry, Stefan," Elena said and she went to him and put her arms around him. He held her close and kissed her forehead. He could hear her heart thumping along and he could smell her blood. It was mixed with the scent of her shampoo and deodorant and a sweet scent that was just Elena.

"What if you didn't live here? Just Damon. How long would he have lain on the floor downstairs? A day? A week?" Elena asked and she shuddered to think of it.

"I don't know. Probably Katherine would find him. Or you. With everything that's been going on, you would have come by the house. Hopefully Katherine would. If not, the monthly maids. They might call 911. But remember that we vampires can lie around for quite a while, just getting a bit more dehydrated week by week, month by month."

"It's awful to think about," Elena said, snuggling against his strong body. She felt safe in his arms. If it were not for Damon's situation, she would have suggested they retire to his bedroom.

"I should go look for Katherine," he said after a while, releasing Elena from his embrace. "Will you stay here with him? Call me if things change?"

"All right."

"Don't try to do anything with him. And go wash your hands and arms. You got red spit spots."

Elena looked at her arms and the front of her blouse. Then she headed for the bathroom, saying, "Please hurry back. And be careful."

Before he could leave, he heard someone coming up the stairs. He tensed, wondering if it were Damon's attacker.

"Damon? Stefan? Where are you?" came Katherine's voice. In a moment, she was standing in the bedroom doorway. She looked at Stefan and then her eyes went to Damon on the bed. "What's going on? What's wrong with him?" She moved toward the bed, noticing the spots of blood and red saliva.

Stefan grabbed her arm and said, "Wait. Don't touch him yet. I think he has that vampire rabies. Someone injected him with it."

"The rabies? How do you know?" Katherine asked, alarmed.

"He has the symptoms and I found where he was injected," Stefan said, and he led Katherine around to the other side of the bed and lifted the afghan. The angry red patch was in sharp contrast to the white buttock skin.

Katherine uttered an angry curse. She then noticed Elena standing in the bathroom doorway, a towel dangling from her hands.

"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" she commented to the human who looked just like herself. Katherine didn't like the girl, mostly because Stefan loved her.

Stefan got to the heart of the matter, asking, "Katherine, do you know about this disease? What do we do to help Damon? Is there a cure?"

At the same time, he was surprised to see the arrival of the teenage witch Bonnie in the doorway.

"Mother's milk," Katherine said, frowning and then nodding to herself.

"Mother's 'first milk'," Bonnie corrected. "Colostrum, to be exact."

"Does that mean it's the milk for just the first baby a woman has?" Stefan asked, thinking that finding a woman having her first child might take a bit of hunting about.

"No," Bonnie said, "It's the first milk the mother makes for each child she has."

"Well, I certainly know where there is plenty of that to be found," Katherine said. "I'll go get some."

As she turned toward the bedroom door, Stefan grabbed her arm again. "Katherine, don't kill anyone."

"Not even for Damon?"

"You can use your powers of persuasion. Don't kill some innocent young mother." He knew she had a maternity ward or labor room in mind.

Katherine glared at him and twisted her arm free.

"Please," Stefan said calmly.

"Oh, all right. I'll try to be good." In a moment, Katherine was gone.

Bonnie stared at Damon and asked, "Is he suffering any pain?"

"I think so, now and then," Elena said. "He sort of cries out when he's moved and he seems to have short muscle spasms. How are we going to get him to drink the milk when he can't swallow?"

"In the few paragraphs in my book that deal with this, it says you massage it in through abraded skin," Bonnie said. "At the injection site."

Elena frowned and said, "Really? He doesn't have any abraded skin, just an injection mark. Did your book say if this disease can be caught by you or me?"

"It's not a disease. It's more of a poison. It's a witch's brew," Bonnie explained.

"A witch's brew! Damn!" Stefan said. "Maybe that explains things. This was done for revenge." He and the girls thought of the father and son team of witches who were now dead. They also knew that somewhere, there was a sister. Had she done this?

"You think this has something to do with the deaths of Luka Martin and his father?" Elena asked. "Someone is avenging their deaths? The sister Luka supposedly has?"

"I think that's possible. At least it would be a reason. Damon killed Luka," Stefan said, although he knew there could be other reasons.

"This is an odd kind of revenge," Bonnie said. "What are you going to do about the skin abrasion issue?"

"Something like sandpaper or the edge of a sharp knife could be used to scrape the skin raw," Elena said. "Wouldn't that work? Like skinning your knee when you fall."

"I would think so," Stefan agreed. "I know where we have some sandpaper."

"I'll get one of those serrated knives I saw in your kitchen," Elena said.

"I'll sit with the patient," Bonnie said. Stefan knew she didn't know this house like he and Elena did and he suspected that she wanted to keep an eye on Damon because she would probably never have another chance to see a vampire with this rare condition. Or maybe she just was enjoying seeing the aggravating vampire lying there helpless. In any case, he trusted Bonnie would not harm Damon as long as he stayed as he was.

He and Elena were returning to the room some minutes later just as Katherine came up the stairs carrying a glass jar of what looked like weak milk. Her trip had been a fast one.

"And I didn't hurt anyone," Katherine said with a smirk.

They found Bonnie sitting in a chair near the bed. "He hasn't moved, except for a twitch now and then.

"Okay," Stefan said. "I'll stay in front of him to keep him from moving away from you. One of you will have to use the sandpaper."

"What sandpaper?" Katherine asked, and she listened while Stefan explained. She snorted and made a crude remark about where they should put the milk.

"Sandpaper, Katherine," Stefan said firmly.

"Yeah. Yeah," she said and the three women went around to the other side of the bed. "Here, hold this," she said to Elena, handing her the jar of colostrum. When Katherine was kneeling on the bed, she flipped the afghan off Damon's hip, exposing the wound and his whole backside. The tiny needle stick mark was not big enough to be considered an abrasion, even though it was leaking fluid.

Kneeling on the other side of the bed, Stefan had hold of Damon's shoulder and thigh to keep him in his present position on his side. He adjusted the afghan a bit to keep his brother somewhat decently covered.

From her pants pocket she withdrew a pair of hospital latex gloves and put them on. "Okay, who's got the sandpaper?"

Stefan had given it to Bonnie and she was eager to hand it over. Katherine seemed to be the only one perfectly willing to abrade Damon's backside. She tore a small piece from the large gritty sheet and folded it into a little square and then attacked the red blotched area with vigor. Damon yelped and jumped, stiffening in a spasm and throwing his head back. The muscles of his body trembled for a long moment. Stefan held him in place. In a moment Katherine had turned the red blotch into a bloody one.

"Pour the milk of human kindness onto the spot, Elena dear. Not too fast," Katherine said to the girl to her left. Elena leaned in from the side of the bed and dribbled the milk into the wound. Using the fingers on one hand, Katherine kneaded and mashed the fluid into the blood and tissue. The other three people grit their teeth over her enthusiasm.

The treatment obviously caused Damon further pain, for his body went into spasms and he cried out. His back arched to the back, with his head thrown backward again. His arms and legs stiffened. Stefan, in front of him, saw the grimace on his brother's face and the eye teeth extend a bit. A hint of veins popped up on his face. If Damon passed into full vampire mode and used his vampire strength, he would be hard to hold.

"How much of this is enough?" Elena asked.

"Who knows," Katherine said, "Pour some more. Don't be squeamish."

"Katherine, you're a mean bitch," Elena growled, practically into her ear.

"You want to do this, missy?"

"No. I just don't think you need to be so brutal about it."

Bonnie, standing up near the head of the bed, didn't say anything, but she glared at Katherine.

Stefan, watching Damon's spasms begin to relax, also saw his Adam's apple moving and realized that he was swallowing again. In fact, Damon made a feeble attempt to move away from the torture behind him and, since he was breathing, he uttered a curse.

"Stop now, Katherine," Stefan ordered. "We've gotten results."

"Are you sure?" she asked, stopping the kneading. She lifted her bloody gloves away from the wound. She, Elena and Bonnie, all behind Damon, watched as signs of healing occurred at the wound edges.

"Looks good," Bonnie observed with relief. She was not comfortable with what Katherine was doing and she wasn't comfortable with looking at Damon's naked back and butt.

Katherine picked up one of the many towels lying around and she blotted the wound. She also wiped his buttocks where the blood had run down. "By Jove, I think we got it," she said cheerfully. "He'll be back to his old mouthy self in no time." She, along with Elena and Bonnie, and with Stefan leaning over to see, watched the wound and the original red blotch slowly disappear.

Elena put a clean towel over the blood-stained one under Damon's hip so that if he rolled over onto his back, the area under him would be clean. Stefan put the afghan in place over him again from the waist to his feet.

Damon did not snap back to his pre-injury self, but his body tension seemed to relax and his renewed breathing slowed from fast to normal. No more saliva poured from his mouth. With caution, his brother rolled him onto his back, making sure the afghan stayed over his pelvis. The room was silent as everyone waited to see if he would choke again.

He did not. He wasn't deeply asleep, so that he was slowly breathing without any gurgling, sputtering, coughing or foaming at the mouth. There were no twitches, trembling or muscle spasms.

"He seems normal, thank God," Elena murmured. She came around the bed to slip her arm around Stefan's waist. She didn't mention that she wondered just how much of a recovery Damon would really make.

Bonnie, satisfied that things were all right and she wasn't needed any more, said she had to go. She actually had homework to do for school, although it often seemed that she did anything but school work. Luckily, she was smart and had a good memory. School work came easily to her. It did likewise to her friend Elena.

"Ladies, I sincerely want to thank you for the help you've been with Damon. I don't know what I would have done," Stefan told the two human girls and Katherine.

"Oh, anytime, Stefan," Katherine said, dropping the soiled gloves in a wastebasket. Despite the fact that Elena was standing right against Stefan's side, Katherine leaned close and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. He scowled at her boldness and was glad when she moved toward the hall. He looked at Elena and shook his head. Katherine was a trial and Elena knew it. Katherine was dangerous, and they both knew that, too.

In a minute, both Bonnie and Katherine were gone. After a glance at Damon, Stefan guided Elena out into the hall. He put both his arms around her and drew her close. "And a special thanks to you," he murmured and he gave her a much more meaningful kiss, which she returned with feeling. Each of them began to think of making their way to his room.

Stefan and Elena stayed locked in this warm embrace just outside Damon's bedroom until, looking over Stefan's shoulder, Elena stiffened and said, "Um…"

A/N Please give me some kind of response, good or not so good. I have to decide whether to keep going with this story or not. Thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Confusion"

Having looked toward Damon's bedroom, Elena then looked away. Stefan turned his head and saw Damon standing in the doorway, stark naked, a bewildered look on his face. Letting go of Elena, he turned to his brother, put his hands on his shoulders and turned him around, facing into the bedroom.

"Back to bed, Damon," Stefan ordered in a gentle tone.

"Why? What happened?" Damon said with slurred speech. His voice was rather hoarse. He almost fell over, except that Stefan had a grip on his arms where there was a tremor in the muscles.

"You've been sick," Stefan said, easing his brother over toward the bed.

"I have? What's all this?" Damon asked in a perplexed tone. He was looking at the various towels on the bed and the assorted areas of blood. The afghan was on the floor.

"It's a long story. I want you to lie down and rest for a while. You're getting better, but you're a little weak," Stefan said, maneuvering Damon to the side of the bed. He sat his brother on the edge of the bed, snatched some of the soiled towels off and picked up the afghan. He leaned forward so he could put the afghan over Damon when he lay down.

"I'm all right. I just need some blood," Damon said, standing up and bumping Stefan back a step.

"Damon, Elena's here. You're naked and I don't want you walking around in front of her that way."

Damon looked down at himself as he tottered a bit and sat down heavily on the bed. He couldn't see Elena because she was waiting out in the hall.

"Oh. 'Cuse me, Elena! Didn't mean to shock your modestly. I'll cover up." He clumsily placed the afghan across his lap. "Okay. I'm decent now. You can look."

Elena peeked in at the doorway and saw the situation. "I'll go downstairs and wait for you, Stefan," she said and she left.

"Oops. I chased her off. Do I look that scary naked?" Damon asked, rolling his blue eyes as he attempted humor.

Stefan knew his brother thought of himself as appealing when naked. Every woman's dream.

"No. She's just respecting your privacy."

"Oh. What happened? My throat feels a little scratchy. I've got a roaring headache. And my butt hurts like I'd been kicked by a horse."

"In a way, you were," Stefan said. He wasn't sure why Damon's throat was sore, unless it was from the coughing and groaning he had done. "I'll bring you some blood if you'll lie down and rest."

"Whose blood is this anyway? Did I kill someone?" Damon asked, twisting his body to look around at the bed covers and towels as he sat there. His handsome face continued to bear a look of confusion.

"You did not. I'll explain it later. Lie down, Damon."

"Was Katherine here? I think I smell Katherine. And Bonnie?"

"LIE! DOWN!" Stefan commanded, glaring at the sick man.

"Bossy little brother," Damon muttered, but he lay down and closed his eyes. He pressed shaking hands to his temples. "I got such a headache. Do I have a bad hangover? What did I drink? Must have been a lot. And I'm naked. Must have been a hellova party. I don't …"

Stefan threw the afghan over Damon again and watched as his brother seemed to fall asleep. At least, he hoped it was sleep. It wasn't deep enough for Damon to stop breathing. He glanced over at the bedside table on the other side of the bed. The glass jar rested there with a little milk left inside.

He went down to the study where he found Elena carefully mopping up the floor with yet another towel.

"How is he?" she asked, standing up and holding the towel gingerly by its one dry corner.

"I'm not sure. He's weak and shaky and has a wicked headache. He seems confused and he says he has a sore throat. Now he's sleeping. I want to get him some blood and put the last of that milk in it. It might help and it can't hurt."

"You're afraid he isn't cured," Elena said with concern.

"I don't know what to think at this point. I'm going to get a couple of bags of blood."

He went down to the basement level and opened the freezer. The unit was not set to a freezing temperature, so that the bags of blood were not frozen. Damon had made a deal with a blood bank man somewhere and the fellow sold the out-dated bags at a cheap price. Damon used this blood frequently, but he also partook of the real thing right from the living source. He did not kill all those he fed from, sometimes just leaving them with a wounded neck and no memory of how it happened.

Stefan, too, had used a few bags of blood on rare occasions. He was more inclined to seek animal blood when he was in need. Despite the fact that he and Elena were sleeping together, he didn't bite her as most vampires would have during or following sex. Having been off human blood for quite some time, it wasn't hard for him to resist.

Taking two bags, he automatically tilted the bags back and forth, mixing the separated blood components. He went up to the first floor and saw Elena waiting in the hall.

"I'm going to go on home, Stefan. But please call me if you need me to help with Damon."

He was disappointed that she wouldn't stay. He promised he would call if need be. In the meantime, he kissed her, walked her to her car, kissed her again and said good night. He locked the front door after returning indoors, turned out the downstairs lights and went up to Damon's room. His brother was lying on his back snoring, but not choking. So he was still able to swallow saliva. In fact, there was now no saliva to swallow. Maybe all the coughing he had done had given him the sore throat.

Stefan cut open one of the blood bags and ran the blood into the jar with the remaining milk. He used his finger to stir the liquids together. Then he sat on the bed beside Damon and nudged his shoulder.

"Damon, wake up. Can you wake up for me?"

Damon snorted and opened his eyes. "Huh?"

"I have some blood and some medicine mixed together. Can you drink it for me?"

Damon tried to sit up, but he was too uncoordinated. Stefan got an arm under his shoulders and lifted him a bit. He tried to focus on the jar in Stefan's hand and he did sip some of the liquid as Stefan put the jar to his lips.

"Tastes funny," he said after one swallow. He made a face of disgust.

"It's the medicine. Drink some more."

Damon was thirsty and hungry. He took all the mixture and kept it down, much to Stefan's relief. When Stefan laid him down again, he went right to sleep.

With only the one bedside reading light lit, the large room was somewhat dim. It didn't impair Stefan's vision any, but he liked the warm pool of light the lamp made. Within the glow, Damon rested peacefully. Stefan stood beside the bed watching and listening to his brother breathe. As Damon slipped into deeper sleep, both his breathing and his heartbeat stopped. He looked very natural for a vampire in that state.

Stefan went into the bathroom and rinsed the jar of its bloody milk. Setting it on the counter, he returned to the room and sat in the comfortable chair positioned next to a reading light, which was not turned on. The chair faced the bed and Stefan could keep an eye on his brother.

For the rest of the night Stefan stayed in Damon's room, watching, listening and thinking. Damon was still shaky. That must mean he was not really recovered from the rabies. Would the effect wear off by morning? He also kept wondering if it was true that this attack had anything to do with the death of the Martins or if he had simply jumped to that conclusion. Damon had way too many enemies. Any one of them could have done this, but it did require the expertise of a witch.

From time to time, Stefan also found himself thinking stimulating thoughts about Elena. If it were not for this mess, he and Elena would be in bed together right now, sleeping or otherwise.

During the night, a car drove by on the street with its stereo speakers booming and this made Damon stir on the bed. Stefan was pleased when Damon turned over onto his side without any help and continued to sleep. There were no more spasms and no drooling.

Katherine showed up before dawn and Stefan didn't ask how she had gotten into the house. She watched Damon and asked how he seemed to be doing. After a couple of minutes, she sat on the arm of the upholstered chair and took one of Stefan's hands into hers. She held onto it on her lap and he didn't pull away. They talked quietly for about half an hour and then she left. She hadn't tried to kiss him and he suspected it was because Elena was not there to see it.

The rising sun tended to encourage vampires to seek dark places and sleep the day away. It was rare that Stefan or Damon yielded to that urge. Still, as the dawn brightened outside, Stefan drifted off to sleep in the chair. He came awake when some soft noise reached his ears. He opened his eyes and found that it was Damon, who was sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard. He was sipping at the second bag of blood that Stefan had brought up from the basement and was staring at Stefan.

"You want to tell me what happened last night?" Damon asked, a hint of hoarseness still in his voice and a questioning expression on his face.

"How do you feel?" Stefan asked, not getting up from the chair. He was relieved to see his brother looking alert and his hands steady. "Do you remember anything?"

Damon hesitated a moment, then said, "No. My mind's blank. My body is vaguely sore. All over. Since you've been sitting in my room watching over me, and you left this blood for me, it must have been some calamity."

Stefan nodded and began to tell of the events of the night without going into great detail. Damon listened in silence for the most part, occasionally sipping blood. His expression did not change, except for an occasional twitch of an eye brow or the corner of his mouth. He definitely raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes at the description of Katherine's vigorous ministrations.

At the end of the story, Stefan asked, "Do you remember who attacked you?"

"No, not at the moment," Damon said, dismayed that he could not.

"I told Elena that I'd kill whoever did this to you, but now I don't think so."

"Why? Aren't I worth it?"

"I really think it was to even the score for the witches' deaths. Luka and his father. I'm thinking it's best to leave the score even."

"If they, whoever, meant to kill me, I'm not dead. I don't know the facts about this 'rabies.' Do you think there are long-term effects meant to punish me?"

"That I don't know. I hope not."

After a long silence of thinking and several sips of blood, Damon said, "All right. We'll let it ride. For now. I'll let you know if I get any nasty side-effects. Okay?"

"Yes. Okay."

"And thanks. You're not bad for a little brother."

A short while later, as Stefan was gathering up a plethora of soiled towels to put in a washing machine, Damon said, "Two girls. Young women. I remember now. They came to the door. Stalled car and dead cell phone. They wanted to call AAA. Hell, I let them in, of course. Shouldn't have. I guess."

"Two young women? I'd say they knew your weak spot," Stefan said, nodding.

"I don't think it's my butt that's my weak spot," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"True," Stefan said as he headed for the door with an armload of towels. "At least it's all over now."

A/N How wrong he is! I hope you all like how this story is going.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N Sorry about the delay. Thanks for the reviews and favs. It gives me the urge to keep working at this.

"Not Good News"

Because Damon seemed to be all right and back to his normal, snarky self, Stefan went to school that day. He and Elena had a brief chance to talk before classes. He thanked her for helping him with his brother and assured her that Damon was fine. He also ran into Bonnie and did the same with her.

Stefan was well-aware that Bonnie didn't like to be around vampires, that as a witch she was normally against the undead killers. But Bonnie was tolerant of Stefan, either because he was Elena's boyfriend or because he was a quiet and decent fellow. And he wasn't running around biting people. Nor did he have a habit of annoying her as Damon deliberately did.

The day passed normally and when he went home he was relieved to find his brother on the computer playing a game. Damon basically ignored him, so he headed for the kitchen, got a cold Coke and headed up to his room.

That evening, Stefan went to Elena's house where he expected to spend the night. He loved that they slept together. He loved her so much. He had been close to a few women during his time as a vampire, but the love he felt for Elena was more intense. It made him happy to know that he could feel this way. It also made him happier that she loved him in return.

When he was in her arms, it was like a calm sea in a storm, because he was aware that all was not well in Mystic Falls. Hanging over their heads was the threat that the dangerous and powerful Original vampire Klaus was coming to town, soon, if he was not already in town. In Elena's arms and Elena's bed, he could forget all that for a while.

Elena had told him that the front door would be unlocked, so he let himself in. Even though Bonnie's car was not in the driveway, it didn't surprise Stefan to hear her voice talking to Elena. The girls lived so close to each other, visiting was easy and they had been close friends since childhood.

He found Elena in her bedroom talking earnestly with Bonnie, who looked concerned. His beloved got up from sitting on the bed and came to him, putting her arms around him and giving him a lingering kiss. He held her close and returned the kiss, but not with too much passion with Bonnie sitting there on the bed with three of her witch's books spread out.

Coming up for air, he said, "Hi, Bonnie."

"Hi, Stefan. I was just telling Elena I checked my sources this afternoon and I have some information. Not good news. Damon is _not_ cured. He'll have a relapse or two. He needs three, maybe four, treatments in all. You can tell if he's cured because there'll be no marks at all around the injection site."

"I thought the redness was gone and the abrasions were healed," Stefan said, a worried look on his face. He was still hugging Elena, but now he let go.

She too looked concerned, but she already knew what Bonnie was saying.

"I doubt it. You or he will have to check," Bonnie said. "We were about to call you about this. I also looked into getting more of the first milk. It's actually for sale out there. I'll go get some. Enough for three treatments."

"When will he have another attack? Will it be as bad as before?"

"I don't know. I've no idea. I'm going to go pick up the milk this evening. You need to have it ready, just in case." Bonnie got up from the edge of the bed where she had been sitting. She put the books in a canvas bag and picked up her purse. "Should I bring it back here or to your house?"

Stefan pressed a hand to his forehead. This wasn't how he had planned to spend the evening. To Elena he said, "I better go home. Bonnie, bring the milk over there, okay? What's it cost?"

She quoted the price she'd been told and he gave her some cash. "I'll see you in a bit," she said, and she left.

After some discussion, it was decided that Elena would stay home, do her homework and go to bed. She insisted that he call her if he needed help with Damon. He said he would, but he thought she looked tired and he hoped he wouldn't need her help with anything. Lately, it seemed as if she was not getting enough sleep and Stefan worried about her.

Stefan passed her brother Jeremy on the stairs as he went down. They nodded to each other, the tall boy quite used to seeing Stefan there at all hours. Jeremy was not critical of his sister's choices. His own life had become complicated enough in the past year. His present love, in fact, was for the "older woman" Bonnie, who had just hurried away.

Once outside the house, Stefan got into his car and he phoned Damon on his cell. Damon answered after a couple of rings.

"Where are you?' Stefan asked.

"Why?"

"Are you home?"

"No." Damon's tone of voice was slightly annoyed.

"I'll meet you at the house."

"I don't think so. I'm busy." His tone of voice was now really annoyed.

"Look. Last night's problem is _not_ over. Bonnie did more research."

Damon was silent for a long moment.

"Did you hear me?" Stefan asked as he drove home.

"I don't think there's a problem. Things are okay," Damon said firmly.

"You're with someone?"

"Yes!" His tone said 'Of course, you idiot.'

"As soon as you can, come home. Please."

"You worry too much. I'll be there when I get there."

Stefan looked at his phone. Damon had hung up.

Arriving at the big house, Stefan spent time folding towels. They were in a crumpled mass in the clothes dryer where he had put them from the washing machine that morning. A maid service came once a month to dust and vacuum the place, to change sheets on beds, but not to wash clothes or to clean up cooking messes. The brothers were responsible for their own daily needs and house upkeep.

They took care of washing any clothes which they bloodied one way or another. They used a special soap good for removing blood stains. Some weeks, one or the other of them washed a lot of clothes. Some weeks they burned clothes because of rips, stabs or bullet holes in the fabrics. A fair number of good leather jackets went up in flames. It was not unusual, winter or summer, for there to be a fire in at least one of the fire places.

Stefan took towels to the various bathrooms, keeping extra ones for Damon's room. He thought it would be handy to have one of those non-permeable pads that a person could put on the bed of an incontinent person. Interestingly enough, Damon had a mattress cover and pillow covers that did protect his bed from the blood of any bedmate who might bleed, especially from fang punctures. However, the duvet, the fine cotton sheets and pillow cases were not protected.

Stefan found himself standing in the big bedroom his brother used. It was bright and airy in the daytime and masculine in its furnishings. The massive bed was a four-poster, but without a canopy. It fit his brother. The bathroom was large and bright too, with the shower stall separate from the tub. Neither room looked like one a vampire would occupy.

Stefan's own room was smaller, but not by much. It was on the third floor up under the roof. Although as a vampire he was impervious to hot or cold weather, the room had heating and air conditioning, which was good when Elena spent nights with him there. Adjacent to the bedroom was his own small bathroom.

He and his brother had been raised in a somewhat wealthy family. They liked nice things. And yet, since becoming vampires, they had been hunted now and then, forcing them to spend days in cold, filthy hiding spots. The special ring each wore saved them from having to hide away from the sunlight, but not from vampire hunters. Stefan hoped never to have to go back to that way of life. He could never ask Elena to live like that, running and hiding, assuming they ended up together for years. Just a wish on his part? Anyway, she deserved the comforts of a safe and good life.

He thought he was probably being a fool thinking of spending his future with her. He knew the old arguments as well as any so-called immortal being did. To try to spend years with a mortal meant the heartbreak of watching that person age and eventually die. Many vampires, like Stefan, Damon, Katherine, Caroline and others were very young in appearance. Some of them were teenagers. In no time, mortal teenagers moved into their 20's, 30's and onward, while the vampire companion remained a teen. The solution of making the loved one into a vampire had good points and bad. Stefan didn't want to see that happen to Elena. But their love was strong. He considered the possibilities.

He heard the door bell and went downstairs. He found Bonnie waiting with an insulated lunch bag.

"First milk. Is he all right so far?" she asked, stepping into the foyer.

"He's out and about. If we can't give him a time frame for another attack, he's not going to stick around the house. Do you have any idea how much time there is before the next attack could come?

"No, but in reading the grimoire, I got the impression it would occur within a day or two."

"Did the book say if he was going to pass out on the floor again? Maybe he shouldn't be driving his car."

"The book didn't say. I think the red area comes back. I suppose he could end up on the floor again. And you're right, he shouldn't be driving."

"Like he's going to be happy with that news," Stefan muttered.

"Good luck with telling him."

"Thanks. This colostrum, it has to be refrigerated, I assume."

"Yes. It's milk. Or close enough. Well, good night, Stefan." Bonnie turned to the door and he let her out. Young as she was, she was a rather powerful witch and Stefan respected her. She was an intelligent young woman and seemed to have a lot of common sense.

On the front porch she met Damon coming home.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, a smirk on his face. "If you want to see my bare ass again, you'll have to wait."

"I don't want to see your butt at all, Damon. I brought the milk in case you need it," she said with a snort of disgust at his arrogance. Without a further word, she walked toward the steps, but as she passed close to him, she sensed that she had brought the milk just in time. At least this time she would not have to be in the bedroom, seeing more of his body than she wanted to see.

Damon entered the hall, closed the door and stood there for a moment. He was not looking forward to his brother's questions or what might be going to happen next.

A/N I decided to end the chapter here. I'm working on editing the next chapter and will post it soon. I welcome comments and suggestions, so feel free to review.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N Thanks to you guys who reviewed and are following. I love comments.

"Relapse"

Facing Stefan, Damon said, "This is going to be damned boring if I have to hang around this place. I picked up a couple of movie DVD's, but I'm not really in the mood right now." He moved into the study, knowing he wasn't in the mood because he didn't feel right. He had been all right when he had talked to Stefan on the phone, but things had changed quickly.

Stefan locked the front door and followed his brother. The scent of a woman clung to Damon, including that of an expensive perfume. Setting the lunch bag on a table, Stefan closed the drapes as he did most evenings if he was going to be in the study. Several lamps were on, even though both of them could see well in the dark. He watched Damon pour himself a drink of bourbon and then plop down on the sofa with a big bored sigh, but he also winced slightly at some discomfort. His cell phone rang in his pocket, but he ignored it.

"Know who I was with this evening?" Damon asked with a grin.

"No, and don't go giving me the details."

Nevertheless, Damon did go into details about his evening with a woman Stefan barely knew by name. He had had fun, but he bitten her, but he claimed he had not killed her. It was not like him to identify the women he had intimate fun with, and this worried Stefan. Despite Damon's levity and jokes, Stefan sensed the apprehension his brother was trying to hide. Something wasn't right. He seemed very on edge, almost as if he were angry and hiding it. Perhaps he was even frightened and hiding it.

"I know you're worried about this thing on your ass, but we'll come through this okay. I feel it," Stefan said, wanting to reassure his brother.

"Shut up!" Damon snapped at Stefan and he sprang up from the sofa and started pacing around. He reached back and scratched at the area of the injection site. He cursed and suddenly threw the whiskey glass against the fireplace. To Stefan's dismay, Damon flew into a rage, storming around the room, hitting and kicking things. He yelled and cursed and foamy spit collected on his lips, but no vampire changes came to his face.

Stefan made no attempt to stop him, waiting to see if the rage stopped on its own. It did. It left Damon standing in the middle of the cluttered room and visibly trembling. Stefan watched him look around the room with a baffled expression on his face, as if he didn't know where he was.

Shaking his head, he cried, "No! No!" He turned toward Stefan with tears suddenly flooding his eyes. In a moment they were overflowing and streaming down his face. He came to his younger brother, put his arms around him and pressed his face against Stefan's shoulder. This was so uncharacteristic of his big brother that Stefan didn't know how to respond. He didn't move. Seeing Damon in a fit of rage was not uncommon, but seeing him break down in tears was a different matter.

"I don't want to disintegrate like Rose did," the Damon gasped. "She suffered and she was losing her mind. She asked me to end her suffering. I tried to make her last minutes easier. I did. I waited as long as I could. It hurt me so much to stake her, Stef. Poor Rose."

In this awkward moment, Stefan put his arms around Damon, feeling the shaking of all his muscles. He was a little concerned about the tears and the spit Damon was getting on his shirt. Hopefully, it was no danger to him, Stefan. As for Rose, he knew she had died, but he hadn't known that Damon had staked her. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen tears of sorrow on Damon's face.

"I'm sorry," he said to his devastated brother.

Damon was sagging in his arms. And then suddenly, he stiffened, shoved Stefan away and snarled, "I hate this! Don't you look at me like that. Don't _pity _me! I hate you!" He savagely wiped the tears from his face with a sleeve.

Stefan said nothing. He watched the way Damon's eyes moved here and there in an odd way and he knew his brother was not rational at the moment. He was not only angry, but he was frightened and confused. And potentially dangerous. Stefan stayed alert for possible attack.

Damon's knees slowly bent as he sank to the floor, coming to a sitting-on-his-heels position. His face became blank and his breathing was ragged. He slowly swayed side to side.

Then, with sudden rational calm, he looked up at Stefan and said, "I don't know what I'm doing, Stefan. I can't think straight. Help me." He scratched at the back of his jeans and winced. The area in question felt hot and painful now.

"I would say it's time for another treatment. Do you think you can walk up the stairs if I help you, or should I carry you?"

"I can make it," Damon said, reaching up for Stefan's arm. He stood up with help and staggered, limping, to the hall and the stairs. Stefan supported a lot of his brother's weight as they went up the stairs and to the bedroom. Damon sat down on the edge of the bed. "My right cheek's on fire," he reported, leaning the other way slightly.

"I'm not surprised if that red area has come back. It looked sore last night. Look, I left the milk downstairs. There's still plenty of sandpaper. Lie down if you have to."

Damon nodded and mumbled, "Okay. Jeez, sandpaper."

Stefan was back in the room in a minute. He wasn't surprised to find Damon where he had left him, leaning on his left arm and looking groggy. Was he about to slip into unconsciousness again?

"Let me put a bunch of towels on the bed before you lie down," he said. He saw Damon nod, but he was also alarmed to see drool coming from the corners of his mouth. Damon seemed to notice and tried to swallow. He couldn't, so he leaned forward and let it run onto the floor.

"It's okay. It'll stop after the treatment," Stefan assured him, handing him a towel. Damon took the towel, but he just held it in his hand resting on one leg. Stefan put another towel on the wet spots on the floor and one on the pillow, too. "Can you stand up and drop your pants?"

Damon looked up at him as if he wasn't sure what Stefan wanted him to do. Then he seemed to comprehend. Surprisingly, Damon did manage to stand up with Stefan's help and he fumbled at the buckle of the belt he was wearing this evening. Stefan was about to help when his brother succeeded in undoing the belt, button and zipper and shakily pushed down both jeans and underwear.

"This is weird, little brother. You aren't usually the one to ask me to take off my pants," Damon said, trying to joke around. "What now?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively, but he then looked confused as he swayed a bit beside the bed.

"Get on the bed. Lie on your stomach," Stefan said, ignoring the implication.

"You're my brother. You shouldn't…" Damon said, frowning at the possibility that Stefan was going to do something sexual to his rear end.

"Shut up, Damon, and lie down," Stefan said, trying not to be annoyed. He took Damon's right arm, turned him around and pushed him so that he had to lie on the bed or fall on the floor.

"Be gentle with me," Damon whispered, slurring his words, "'cause I don't feel so good. Not at all. Maybe you shouldn't …"

Straightening Damon's body on the bed, Stefan tried to pretend he didn't know what his brother meant. He also told himself that Damon didn't really know what he was saying. Perhaps he had even lost track of who he was talking to.

Face down, Damon lifted his head from the pillow and shook his head a little. "I'm drowning in spit here," he complained in a bewildered tone. "What's going on?"

"You're not drowning. Let the spit go on the towel," Stefan instructed, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"I'm drooling worse than some old dude in a nursing home," Damon managed to say, sort of talking to himself and getting some saliva on his hands. "Yuck!" He said something else so garbled that Stefan couldn't understand him. He then laid his head down and was quiet.

To himself Stefan murmured, "What the hell am I doing? I don't think I can do this alone." He looked at his brother's bare bottom and the splotch on the white skin.

The bright red patch of skin was obvious. It had come back. In fact, there was a slight bumpiness to it, probably left over from the abrading treatment of the night before.

Stefan suddenly realized that he had no rubber gloves. Did he need them? Would he be poisoned by the witch's brew in Damon's blood if he used his bare hands? Then he recalled that there were rubber gloves in the broom closet down the hall. He left the room without Damon noticing and returned with a colorful pair of gloves. They weren't clean. He went into the bathroom, put the gloves on and washed them with soap and water. Theoretically, Damon would not get infected from the dirty gloves, but Stefan wasn't taking any chances on that.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he opened a bottle of colostrum and set it within easy reach. As he picked up the sheet of sandpaper, he wondered if this was folly to try the treatment with no help. Damon could go completely out of control. He might even attack Stefan.

"Are you awake?"

Damon, his eyes closed, barely nodded that he had heard.

"This is going to hurt. Try not to move away from me," Stefan said, tearing off a small piece of the sandpaper. "If we can't do this, I'll have to get help. Elena or Katherine or someone."

Damon shook his head slightly. Saliva frothed around his lips as he muttered something.

Stefan applied the sandpaper without the force Katherine had used. Damon jumped and groaned and swore. He swung a fist at Stefan, but it had no force. He weakly tried to kick Stefan away from him. More foam collected on his lips. Since Stefan wasn't touching him now, he settled down again.

The blood on the slight abrasion congealed rapidly and the scrape marks healed. It was going to take much more force to open a wound and keep it open. In addition, Stefan would have to stop to pour milk onto the wound. Despite the fact that he could move rapidly, he didn't think this was going to work as planned. He feared that pain would make Damon get off the bed faster than he could catch him or hold him down.

"I can't do this," Stefan murmured to himself. "What am I going to do?" He turned toward the door when movement caught his eye.

It was with great relief that he saw Katherine standing in the doorway. She was the emotional support and physical assistance that he really needed right now. He wouldn't have to try to do this alone.

He put a finger in front of this mouth as an indication for silence and beckoned her close. With hand signs he indicated that he would abrade the skin if she would pour. She nodded and picked up the bottle of milk.

Damon seemed to be too groggy to know Katherine was present, or too tired to complain about her, but when Stefan applied more vigor to abrading the red skin, Damon cried out and tried to move away. Katherine applied firm pressure on his back to keep him in place. She then poured a little milk on the bloody wound and Stefan began to knead it in. As with the night before, Damon's body stiffened with his back arched and his head thrown back, uttering a pained cry. Stefan didn't stop what he was doing, and since Damon stayed on his abdomen, the treatment continued. Stefan hated causing his brother this kind of pain, but it had to be done.

In moments, he saw signs that the edges of the red, raw area were trying to heal. He stopped the kneading and rose up to try to see Damon mouth. Was he still salivating? Was he able to swallow again? He couldn't tell because Damon's face was down into the pillow. He indicated to Katherine to turn Damon's head and look for movement in his neck around his Adam's apple. Katherine understood and did as he had asked. She saw the movement and smiled, nodding

With a sigh of relief, Stefan sat back. He and Katherine watched the wound heal and the redness fade. He carefully wiped blood from around the wound and then blotted the excess blood off the healing skin. Damon did not flinch at this, which was a good sign. Stefan then laid a clean towel over Damon's backside and he got off the bed, walking to the bathroom. He took off the gloves and put them in the sink. He stood leaning on his hands on the counter, relieved that the treatment was over.

Katherine had followed him into the bathroom and she questioned him about the si situation. He explained that Damon might need as many as two more treatments to bring about a cure. She shook her head and pressed her lips together, showing that she didn't like the situation either. She didn't hate Damon. She was fond of verbally sparring with him. She liked teasing him. She liked having sex with him, which she had done a couple of times since coming back to Mystic Falls.

But she also made him angry because she knew how to say things that hurt him, especially when she rubbed it in that she loved Stefan much more than she cared for Damon. She well knew that right from the beginning a long time ago, Damon had been in love with her. That love was still there, but he denied it. Her own love for Stefan was not returned, although she believed that deep down he loved her. She refused to believe she was wrong.

"Come on downstairs," Stefan said. "I've got to clean up the mess he made in the study. He went on a rampage for about ten seconds." He picked up the open bottle of milk, capped it and put it with the others in the bag. He needed to put them in the refrigerator.

The two of them went downstairs and Stefan went to the kitchen. He returned to the study and they surveyed the damage. Things had been knocked over, but little had been broken. It didn't take the two of them long to straighten up the room. The broken things Stefan took to one of the back rooms near the kitchen. He eventually wanted Katherine to leave. He told her he appreciated all her help, and then he asked her to please leave so that he could relax and think through the situation.

Katherine liked working beside him and she didn't want to leave. She stood before him, her hand on his chest. "I think we can come up with a better way for you to thank me," she said, easing her hand down over his abdomen.

Stefan took hold of her wrist when she got down to his belt. "Katherine, no. You know I'm not going to do that. Just leave it be. I really do appreciate the help you've been, but I want you to let it go at that."

"You're no fun," she said with a teasing pout.

"I'm not in any mood for fun. And if I were, you know where I'd go for it."

"Well, I bet little Miss Elena can't please you like I can."

"A lot of the pleasing is in my mind and how I feel about her. You know…"

They were both startled by the doorbell. Curious, Stefan headed for the hall, while Katherine headed for the kitchen. When he opened the door, he found Sheriff Liz Forbes standing there.

A/N Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, let me know I'm doing this right. Working on the next one.

A/N For those of you who are also following my story "Fantasy and Photos" and are confused about the way the chapters are now listed, let me say that all seven chapters are there, even though it looks like only Chap 1 and Chap 2 are there. I messed it up when I re-published. Sorry about the confusion.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next chapter. It isn't very long, but I hope you like it.

"The Sheriff's Visit"

"Sheriff, what are you doing here?" Stefan asked, surprised.

"I came to talk to Damon. He left a message on my phone that he had some information for me. I've been out of town all day and just got back. He hasn't answered his phone, so I came over to see if he was here."

This turn of events left Stefan a bit shaken. "Damon's not feeling well. He went up to his bedroom."

"One of my deputies saw him earlier at the Red Horse. He left with Maggie Webster according to the bartender, but she didn't answer her phone. Or her door."

"I'll go up and see if he's awake," Stefan said. "Come on in and have a seat." He led her to the living room where she sat at one end of a sofa. Going up the stairs, Stefan hoped that Damon had been telling the truth about not killing Maggie Webster. He hoped he hadn't left her unconscious, either.

In the bedroom, he found Damon lying on his back on the bed, his eyes closed. Apparently he had tried to pull up his underwear and jeans, but had only partly succeeded.

"Damon. Wake up."

"I'm awake," Damon said hoarsely, not opening his eyes. "You sent for Katherine. I asked you not to." He sounded annoyed, but not really mad.

"I didn't send for her. She just showed up. And I'm damned glad she did. I really needed an extra pair of hands." Stefan wondered where Katherine was at the moment. Maybe she had actually left the house.

"Fine," Damon muttered.

"How do you feel?"

"Like before, I guess. Sore. Foggy."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Damon opened his eyes and looked thoughtful. "I came home after you phoned me because my butt cheek started itching and I felt … weird. Bonnie was just leaving. Brought mother's milk. Things are fuzzy after that. Then blank."

"All right. Look, Liz Forbes is downstairs. She said you left a message for her and she's wondering what information you have. Do you think you can talk to her?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll tell her I'm sick. Some bug I picked up. Let me finish dressing." He reached down for his pants, but made slow progress. Stefan reached out to help.

"I can do it," Damon growled, and he pushed Stefan's hands away.

"She knows you were out with Maggie Whatshername. So you got sick _after _that," Stefan coached him.

"Okay." He rocked his hips side to side as he hauled on his underwear and jeans together. The clothes slowly inched upward.

"You're really groggy. I'll tell her you took some medication and it's making you sleepy."

"Okay," Damon whispered, closing his eyes, too tired to fool with the clothes any more. He licked his dry lips, but he now had no saliva at all.

Stefan went ahead and reached out again. Damon didn't brush his hands away this time and he was able to adjust Damon's clothes so he was properly dressed. He then helped him sit up on the edge of the bed. He hauled him to his feet, but Damon leaned heavily against him and began to sag.

"Maybe she should come back tomorrow," Stefan said with concern. He had his hands under Damon's armpits and was supporting most of his weight.

"Have her come up here," Damon said, moving backward so he could sit down on the bed again. "Ouch! Damn," he muttered, wincing. "I remember what I wanted to tell her and it better be tonight. Something's going down tonight."

Stefan laid his brother down again and pulled the afghan over him. Damon's eyes were closed and he was falling asleep. Stefan snatched up a couple of towels that showed blood and hid them under the bed. Seeing spots of blood on the afghan, he lifted it off Damon, flipped it over and laid it down again.

Downstairs, he faced Liz, a blond woman he knew to be around forty. One of her goals was to rid the town of Mystic Falls of the occasional vampire that snuck in. At one time she had discovered that Damon, Stefan and now even her daughter Caroline were vampires. This knowledge had been very upsetting to her, but Caroline had used her ability to compel her mother and she had erased the knowledge. Therefore, Stefan and Damon had to be careful what they said to Liz.

For some reason, Damon and Liz had become good friends. He somewhat helped with the vampire situation and with other things if he learned something that he knew she could use in her job. With his vampiric hearing, he certainly overheard things she or her deputies did not.

"Liz, he is really sick. Either a virus or something he ate. He's taken medication and he's nearly zonked out. You can come up to his room and try to talk to him, but I don't know if it will do any good," Stefan said.

"Let's give it a try," Liz said, knowing that Damon's information was often very important. She followed Stefan up the wide stairway and to one of the bedrooms. She was impressed by the size of the room and its furnishings, but she was concerned when she saw how pale Damon looked. She went to the side of the bed.

"Damon?"

He raised his eyebrows, but he didn't open his eyes.

She laid a hand on his brow, thinking he had a fever, but his skin was cold. "He's awfully cold," she said to Stefan.

"I know. He was in a cold sweat a little bit ago," Stefan lied.

"Shouldn't you call a doctor?"

"I think it's something he ate. He vomited and has diarrhea," Stefan said, continuing the lie. "He was out this evening and came home early because he felt so bad."

"Liz?" Damon mumbled. He opened his eyes, but he had trouble focusing on her.

"I'm here," she said. She took his cold hand in her two and sat on the edge of the bed.

He struggled with a mouth that was so dry, but managed to tell her what he had overheard at the bar where he had been with Maggie. He mumbled something else which neither Liz nor Stefan could understand and then he started softly snoring.

"Are you sure he's all right?" she asked Stefan. She was a mother. She worried.

"I'm pretty sure. If he gets worse, I'll take him to the hospital."

Stefan took Liz downstairs and to the front door. She thanked him and asked him to keep her posted on Damon's condition. He promised he would. When she was gone, he went into the study and poured himself a drink. Then he sat down in a chair and tried to relax. He wanted to go to Elena, but he was not going to leave Damon alone. He did phone her and they had a nice chat, which made him feel a lot better.

Finally, he went to the basement and retrieved two bags of blood. He took them upstairs after turning off the downstairs lights. He found Damon asleep, still snoring softly. As with the night before, he settled into a chair and rested. He checked on his brother from time to time and found that he had dropped off into the deep, still "sleep" of the undead. Damon looked all right to Stefan, so he sat in the chair and eventually drifted off to sleep himself.

He awoke when he sensed someone moving about. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Damon, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and using scissors to open a bag of blood. He seemed to be his normal, alert self. Stefan glanced at a clock, seeing that it was five in the morning. "How do you feel?" he asked. How many times lately had he asked his brother that?

"All right. Hungry, obviously. So, what happened this time?"

Once again, Stefan related the basic points, including the sheriff's visit. He didn't mention the brief rage or the tearful scene.

"Liz didn't seem suspicious?"

"No. She was just really worried about you."

Damon sniffed at his clothes and said, "Maggie wears expensive perfume, but it's too strong a scent. I need a shower." He swallowed the last of the blood in the bag and threw it into the nearby wastebasket. He kicked off the loafers that were still on his feet. Standing up, he undid his belt and zipper and pulled his T-shirt up over his head. He then walked to the bathroom, his unzipped jeans barely clinging to his hips, while his blue briefs stayed in place. He looked like so many of the teenage boys who wore sagging pants these days.

Stefan followed him. "When you get your pants off, let me see your backside. I want to see if the wound area has really healed." When he looked at it in the bright light of the bathroom, he didn't like what he saw.

"So, how does it look?" Damon asked. He was twisted around, but he couldn't quite see the spot well.

"Not totally healed. The area is still faintly pink and the skin is roughened. Bumpy."

"I'm not surprised, since you sanded it." He turned his backside to a full-length mirror and tried to discern what Stefan had seen. It was really not obvious to him. Carefully running his fingers over the spot, he felt the little bumps.

"Bonnie seemed to think there should be no sign at all left," Stefan said with concern. "Your skin normally heals perfectly." He thought that that was a good thing. Otherwise, Damon's skin would be a mass of scars. He stood there with the perfect skin of a marble statue, except for the bumpy pink area. "There's nothing we can do about it except do another treatment."

"Not right now, that's for damned sure," Damon said, and he moved to the shower stall.

Stefan went to his own room where he showered, shaved, brushed his teeth and put on fresh clothes. He decided that he had better go to school. He hadn't done any homework. If they had a test or two today, he would just have to wing it. Luckily, he already had an excellent education to fall back on. There was a mountain of information in his head. So much had changed in the last hundred years, but he had kept up with it all, often marveling at the progress.

He looked at the ring on his finger and smiled. Because of it, he could lead an almost-normal life and share a lot of time with the girl he loved. And go to school again and again and again.

A/N Working on the next chapter. I should have it posted in a few days. Comments really welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Katherine Again"

When Stefan came home from school, he found Damon in the study at the desk that held the computer which Damon was using.

"What are you up to?"

"Paying the electric bill. One of us has to. Much as I like fireplaces and candles, I prefer good lighting, a refrigerator that works and the use of other electrical conveniences."

"Yeah, me, too," Stefan said. Paying bills was not high on his list of priorities. Damon tended to take care of things. "How did your day go?"

"Boring as hell," Damon said, finishing paying the bill on line. He remained sitting in the chair, but he swiveled it around to face his brother. "I've been thinking about the situation. Instead of waiting for me to have an attack, I think we should go ahead with another treatment. Our little witch didn't say we had to wait, did she?"

"No. I've wondered about that, too. But I'll tell you one thing: I will _not _do the treatment without help." His tone of voice was firm.

"If I'm not having an attack, I'll be cooperative. You won't need help."

"The treatment is painful, Damon! You don't remember it, but I know it really hurt you and you tried to move away from it."

"I've been hurt more times than I can count. I can take it, even if I yell a lot," he said with a smirk. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"And you might freak out and be way beyond my control."

"I haven't freaked out yet from any of this, have I?" Damon said with a snort.

"Yeah, you did. I didn't mention it, but you did last evening at the beginning of the attack. Right here in the study. Broke a few things."

Damon looked at him with concern and then looked around the room. Now that he was paying attention, he saw that a couple of things were missing. "I did?"

"Yup."

"You didn't tell me that. I don't like not remembering stuff I do."

"Be glad. You totally lost it for a few seconds."

Damon shook his head over the fact that he couldn't remember. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No. Look, it's Katherine I'd like to have help me."

"No! Not her, damn it. She laughs at my situation."

"Damon, she has the strength to control you better than anyone. I know she can be a maddening bitch, but she's very strong. And she _does_ care about you."

"Like hell. She's just enjoying seeing me suffer."

"I don't think that's what she really feels. It's just how she acts."

"No, she likes to hurt me. And besides, I'd like to try the treatment this afternoon, and Katherine probably isn't going to come here this afternoon. And we can't call her."

"Do you have any symptoms yet? Itching? Tingling? Burning?"

"No. Not a hint of anything, but I don't want to wait. Call Bonnie or Elena. Caroline, even. She's one of us now. She has strength."

Stefan's cell phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. He didn't recognize the phone number on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Stefan, it's me," said a woman. He thought it was Elena, but she normally used her cell, which was identified by his phone. On the other hand, he knew Katherine could imitate Elena.

"Elena?"

"Don't you wish. It's Katherine."

"Where are you?"

"In your house. Did you know there's a phone on the wall here?"

"How would I know that if I don't know where you are?"

"Well, there is."

"Have you been in the house since last night?"

"Off and on. Why not? I decided to just stay here. Besides, I knew Damon'd be ticked off if he knew I was here. How is he?"

"Fine. Why are you calling now?"

"I heard your voice. Home from the little red school house, huh? Why do you bother to go to school? Do you ever learn anything useful?"

"Katherine, Damon and I are talking about doing a treatment before he actually has an attack. If we do it, I could use your help again."

"Would he agree to that? Ha! I don't think so."

"No, he would not agree, but I can be stubborn, too." He was glaring at Damon, who looked furious.

Damon stood up from the chair and grabbed the phone from his brother's hand. He swore at Katherine and told her she could not help with the treatment. "I'd rather _die._"

"Okay," Katherine said with a laugh and she hung up.

"Where is she?" Damon demanded of Stefan, who snatched his phone back.

"Somewhere in the house. Damon, remember, you said you would not freak out. You're on the verge."

"I'm not on the verge of anything except killing that bitch! As for you, just shut up!" Damon snapped, suddenly "losing it" again. He cursed and punched his brother in the mouth.

A surprised Stefan was knocked to the floor where he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Damon had a temper, but Stefan sensed this blow-up was related to the problem. "Nice move, Damon. Good control."

In a flash, Damon was on Stefan, straddling him, one hand to his throat. He tried to punch Stefan with his other fist, but the younger brother grabbed his wrist and held it away. They struggled for a moment and then Damon let go of Stefan's throat. He sat back, his brother under him, and they stared at each other.

"I'm _not_ freaked out. I'm okay. Well, sort of." And yet he knew he had just reacted more violently than he normally would have. He was not okay.

Stefan nodded, relieved that the violence had been brief. His split lip was healing. He licked the blood from his hand and lips.

Damon stood up, reaching a hand down to help his brother up. He had a smear of Stefan's blood on his own hand and he too licked it off. They didn't like to waste blood.

"What are we going to do? You know my feelings on this," Stefan asked.

"If it were your ass Katherine was after, would you let her do the treatment?"

"She _is _after mine, in a way, but yes, I think I'd let her help as long as you were there, big brother." Stefan, the "little brother," was a bit taller than his older brother. He likely would have been even taller if he had not become a vampire at seventeen. Otherwise, they were basically of the same height and build and of almost equal vampiric strength. Damon's strength was a little greater and his personality was far more dominant.

"I can't believe Katherine's been in the house all day," Stefan said. "She may have been in the house yesterday."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she just _appears_. I don't know how she's getting in."

"We haven't checked _every_ entrance to this house in a while. At least, I haven't. Have you?" Damon asked.

"No. And she may be listening through the furnace vents," Stefan said, considering the possibility. He knew loud conversation did carry through the vents to a degree and could be heard by someone with very sensitive hearing, like a vampire. He didn't like the idea of Katherine lurking in the house at all. But in this case, perhaps it would prove advantageous.

For once, Damon looked indecisive. It was obvious to Stefan that he wanted the treatment done now, but without Katherine. Stefan wouldn't do it without Katherine's help.

Damon glared at his brother and said, "All right, damn it. You and Katherine win. I don't want to pass up this opportunity to try the treatment. If it works, I may be cured. Right?"

"That's what Bonnie thinks," Stefan said, relieved that Damon was giving in.

"Isn't this just great! I'm doing this on the word of a teenager who's only been a witch for a short while."

"She may not have been at it very long, but she's good."

"She isn't totally trustworthy. She has no love for vampires," Damon argued.

"I know. But she has loyalty to Elena, who does trust at least one vampire."

"Who isn't me. I know Elena doesn't trust me. And Judgey doesn't even like me."

"But she'll help you if she thinks you deserve it, and she does in this situation," Stefan pointed out. "And she'd do it because that's what Elena would want."

"I'd rather it was Elena assisting you instead of Katherine," Damon said with a growl. "Elena doesn't enjoy seeing people hurt."

"Elena doesn't have the strength we need here," Stefan insisted.

He knew from Elena that she had helped Damon take care of the dying Rose, which had been a dangerous thing for Elena to do. It had momentarily angered Stefan that Damon had allowed such a thing.

He walked over to the closest heating vent and yelled, "Katherine, if you can hear me, come on upstairs." He assumed she was in the basement somewhere.

Back through the vent came her echoing shout, "Why? Has Damon changed his mind? Do I get to sandpaper his ass again?"

"No, you don't. I'll do it, but I need you to hold him down. I'm sure you can do that."

"With pleasure."

"Then meet us in his bedroom."

"Okey dokey."

"I'm going to regret this," Damon muttered. "She just wants the chance to mess with me. You watch her and make sure she doesn't take advantage of me in some way."

"It's not her fault the treatment is harsh. She treated you once and held you down once already and she hasn't done anything wrong to you. I was right there, you know," Stefan said as he and Damon left the study.

Before he went upstairs, he went to the kitchen and retrieved some of the milk. He hoped it was still in good condition. Like Damon, he hoped this treatment would be the cure. He didn't look for more sandpaper, since he knew half a sheet of it was still in Damon's room.

Upstairs, he found Damon in his room already, just standing there looking at the bed.

"It's weird, but I feel something like fear," Damon admitted in a soft voice. "I don't remember y'all treating me. You said it obviously caused me pain and I don't remember it, but I think my subconscious does. I don't know why that would make any difference. I've stood a lot of pain in my life. I'm not afraid of it, so why do I feel it now?"

"It may be part of the spell. An effect of the witch's brew. What better revenge than to make you sick _and_ afraid?"

"Thanks for that nice bit of encouragement." Damon shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Katherine walked into the room and both men looked at her. Sexy and sultry. Stefan saw that she was wearing the same clothes as the night before, dark leggings and a rich blue tunic or short dress. She had a small bloody spot on her tunic that he did not recall as coming from Damon. He guessed that she had gone out hunting after she had disappeared at the arrival of Liz last evening.

"You know you need me, Damon. And I do so enjoy watching you squirm," she said with a flirty smile.

"Katherine, you aren't helping saying that," Stefan said. "Don't rub it in." He realized that that came out as a pun, which he hadn't meant.

Damon glared at her and then shot Stefan a withering look.

Stefan turned to the bathroom and went to get several towels. He returned, pulled down the bed's duvet and spread several thicknesses of towel where Damon's pelvis would be. He also put a folded one on the pillow in case Damon progressed into an attack and started drooling.

"Drop those pants, Damon," Katherine said with a grin. "Or do you need help?"

In anger, Damon undid the belt and zipper and in a flash had his jeans and underwear down to his knees. He could have turned his back to her, but he defiantly did not. Besides, she had seen him naked before. It was just her attitude that infuriated him.

"Get on the bed, lying on your stomach," Stefan said, interrupting the glaring match between his brother and this woman.

In a moment, Damon was lying on the towels and both Stefan and Katherine were inspecting the area of concern.

"It looks all right," Katherine said in a more serious tone.

"You can still see the slight pink look and see how the skin is a little bumpy?"

"Yes. A blemish on his perfect tushy."

"Wait'll I get my hands on your perfect tushy," Damon snarled.

"Promises. Promises. So, this means he's still got it?" she asked Stefan.

"Yeah. His skin should look perfectly normal. Let me get the rubber gloves I put in the bathroom cabinet. I put the milk on the table there and the sandpaper's in the drawer."

He returned to find Katherine with the milk in one hand and the sandpaper in the other. She was smiling at Damon and waving the sandpaper at him, but she was doing so from several feet away. He was watching her with a smoldering scowl.

Stefan was apprehensive about doing this. It was bad enough that Damon was going to feel the pain of the treatment, but on top of that he was angry at everything. It showed in his face, and yet, so far, he had not totally lost control and moved into the vampiric mode.

Sitting on the edge of the bed close to Damon's right thigh, he put on the gloves and reached for the sandpaper. He hoped that perhaps the treatment would not be as painful as before simply because no attack was in progress and the skin was not red. Of course, redness or not, having your backside skin abraded by sandpaper was going to hurt a lot.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Damon swore at him and added, "Just _do_ it!"

Katherine, jar of milk in one hand, sat down on the edge of the bed too, ready to restrain the older brother. She laid a hand on the middle of his back.

Stefan moved the blue T-shirt hem up higher on Damon's back so it wouldn't get bloody, and then he applied the sandpaper with the necessary force. Damon jumped, let out an agonized groan and buried his face in the pillow, which he had gripped in his fists. He body was rigid. Stefan kept going with the sandpaper, and at his nod, Katherine began pouring the milk. When Stefan hurriedly dropped the sandpaper and began to knead the milk into the bloodied skin, Damon howled and tried to squirm away. Katherine grabbed him and held him down, pressing her own body down across his back, even as she poured more milk. Although she weighed less than Damon, she had the power to increase her weight and press him down.

Stefan knew that Damon could have fought harder to get away, but he was obviously trying to be cooperative. The muscles of his body were trembling, but he was now lying in place under Katherine and muffling his groans and curses in the pillow.

The time it took to do the treatment was actually brief, although it seemed to take forever to those in the room. Still, in about thirty seconds, it was over. Stefan stopped kneading and he and Katherine studied the healing wound. Damon was breathing rapidly, but was otherwise quiet. His muscles still quivered.

"It looks promising," Katherine said. She eased her body up from her position across Damon's back and sat up, almost sitting on his elbow because he had his hand stuffed under his pillow.

"We'll see," Stefan said, staring at the spot with concern. He badly wanted this to be the last treatment. "It's healing, but will it go all the way? Damon, you still there?"

Damon's answer was a muttered curse as he turned his head to rest his left cheek on his pillow.

Katherine, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed by Damon's right shoulder, reached down and moved his dark hair away from his face, which was turned in her direction. She rested her hand on his head for a long moment, stoking his temple with her thumb.

"You did good," she said and meant it. "If it was me, I'd have been climbing the wall, I think." Like the brothers, she had endured her share of pain over her long lifetime. She didn't like it, but accepted it as being inevitable sometimes.

When Stefan took a clean towel and blotted the last of the bloody milk from the skin, Damon jumped and Stefan said, "Sorry. Just cleaning you up."

"How's it looking now," Damon asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Good. Really good. We'll know soon." Stefan said. He removed the rubber gloves and laid them on one of the soiled towels along with the bloody sandpaper. He dreaded the thought of having to do this again. He laid a hand on the small of Damon's back and rubbed it a little. The muscle quiver had stopped. "You okay?"

"Sure. What the hell, I could do this every day," he muttered in a snarky tone. After a moment, he said, "I just want this damned curse to be cured." He raised himself up on his elbows and leaned a bit toward Katherine's nearby side and briefly nudged her with his shoulder. "Okay. I can see now why he needed your help," he grudgingly admitted. He hated to admit he'd been wrong. He especially hated to admit it to Katherine.

"It was my pleasure." There was a hint of a chuckle in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was," he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes up at her. "You are such a mean bitch. I don't know what I ever saw in you."

"You loved me. You still do. Deep down," she assured him.

"In your dreams," Damon snapped.

Stefan looked at them and was not sure just what these two felt toward each other anymore. They seemed to be forever fighting, and yet maybe it covered feelings they still had for one another. The old love from the beginning. Stefan knew she still loved and wanted him, Stefan. But what about Damon? He just didn't know. If it was love, it was tough love.

They let another minute pass and then studied the wound site.

"Come on, guys," Damon groused impatiently. "What's the verdict?"

"I would swear all signs have disappeared," Stefan said.

"I don't see any pink tinge and there are no bumps," Katherine said. "You got such a nice ass, Damon." She patted his rear end. He didn't jump this time.

"So I've been told. Okay. Enough of this. Katherine, go back to wherever you were spending the day," Damon ordered. He rolled over onto his back and worked at pulling up his pants. He knew she was looking him over. Look all you want, he thought. But then, why should I give you a free show? "Out!" he snapped.

"Okay. I'm outta here. It was fun. Ta ta," she said, and she left the room with a little wave of her fingers.

Still lying down, Damon shook his head as he buckled his belt.

"Do you really think we got a cure?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes. But I'd be alert to anything that hints at a relapse. Tingling or whatever," Stefan said as he stood up and pulled at a bloodied towel. Damon raised his hips to release the towels. He had been lying on the clean edge of them.

"I can't live my life worrying about it. If it happens, it happens." He rolled onto his side, sat up on the edge of the bed, then stood up, hesitating to see if he was steady on his feet. He seemed to be. He looked at the towels in Stefan's hand and a grim expression came briefly to his face. "Hey, sorry about all the grief I gave you about Katherine helping."

"Forget about it," Stefan said, heading for the bathroom. He heard Damon's cell phone ring and Damon answering it. In a moment the older brother was chatting cheerfully with Liz Forbes. As Stefan took the towels downstairs and put them in a washing machine, he allowed his thoughts to wander to Elena and her promise to be with him that evening. Happy thoughts.

With his concern for Damon's problem gone, he was in an excellent mood when he later went to Elena's house. Both her brother and her Aunt Jenna were home, and they welcomed him, although he sensed they were not in the best of moods for some reason. He knew Jenna, who was legal guardian for the orphaned Elena and Jeremy, didn't entirely approve of sleepovers for boyfriends and girlfriends, but she tried to be open-minded about it. It made Stefan feel more comfortable joining his beloved in her bed, but it also meant that they had to be rather quiet during love-making. They usually managed quite well.

A/N Are Damon's problems over? No. I'm working on the next chapter, so stay tuned. I hope you all liked this chapter. Please comment. I need encouragement.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries does not belong to me.

A/N Thanks to you folks who are reading this story. I love to see how many hits I get. I also love any reviews, of course.

A/N This chapter begins the 'Spots' part of the story. Alert: deals with the aftermath of a rape (not of one of the main characters).

"Suspicion"

The next morning Stefan went home early to shower and change clothes. He checked on Damon first, finding him in his shower, singing loudly.

"Stick your butt out the door. Let me see how the spot looks this morning," Stefan told Damon.

"Geez. A guy can't even take a shower in private," Damon muttered. However, he opened the stall door and turned his back to his brother and mooned him. With his head turned, he watched Stefan scrutinize the area in question.

"You're cured, brother," Stefan grinned at Damon and slapped the wet skin with the back of his hand.

"That's a damned relief. I don't think I could take too much more of my bare ass being the object of everyone's attention," Damon said with a snort as he straightened up. He closed the shower stall door and continued washing himself. He went back to singing.

Stefan left him alone and went up to his own attic room. There he too took a shower and put on clothes for school.

Stefan spent much of the day at school where he had the chance to see Elena and talk to her. He reported that Damon was cured. She laughed and said that was a relief. She stayed after school for special activities, while he went home. He found that his brother was gone from the house, so he went to his room to do some assigned reading. Reading was a favorite pastime anyway. He'd been an avid reader since his childhood when his mother had read him stories.

Later, Stefan drove to Elena's house again. He had had such high hopes when he had left his house earlier in the evening, envisioning eating snacks with Elena and joining her in bed.

He was pulling into Elena's driveway when his cell rang and it was Elena. He told her he would be right there in a moment. When he entered Elena's house, he found her really upset. Neither her brother Jeremy nor her Aunt Jenna was home at the time. As soon as Elena let him into the house, she threw her arms around him and leaned against his chest, tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked with alarm, enfolding her in his arms. "What's happened?"

"It's awful, Stefan. Dottie Reinhardt's mother was attacked! A bunch of us stayed after school, including Dottie, so she didn't go home for quite a while. Then she got a call from her dad saying her mother was in the hospital. Her poor mother had been beaten and had been lying on the kitchen floor for hours, they think! Stefan, she had a concussion and wounds on her neck! Lost a lot of blood. And she'd been… um…_raped._"

"Damn! How do you know all this?" He knew Dottie as a pretty, vivacious girl with red hair. He didn't know her parents.

"Bonnie and I went to the hospital with Dottie and kept her company. Her dad was so upset and angry he was no help to Dottie, but he did tell her what happened to her mom. That's how I know. Also, it's been on the news." Elena shook her head in dismay.

Stefan held her, but he didn't really say anything other than words meant to comfort. He kissed her on the top of her head. Her words told him that she was very angry on behalf of the assaulted woman. Elena and Stefan ended up in the kitchen where she continued to vent her emotions and Stefan listened patiently. She hadn't eaten any supper and she now nibbled some crackers.

At bedtime, she was not in any mood to "sleep" with Stefan. Sex, at the moment, seemed an ugly thing. Before they went to bed, she took a shower, which she said made her feel cleaner after being at the hospital. He suggested he join her in the shower, but she didn't want him to. Instead, he sat fully dressed on the lid of the toilet and they talked. She did most of the talking, still venting her emotions.

She had taken off the locket containing the vervain before stepping into the shower and Stefan now played with it. He had had it since back in the 1920's when he had found it on the floor of a speakeasy club in Chicago. The place had been raided by the police and some woman must have dropped it in her haste to get away. There had been no picture inside.

Now it contained some dried vervain leaves, so that Stefan could never compel Elena as long as she wore it. Unlike the liquid vervain, the leaves had an odor that Stefan could smell. It wasn't unpleasant, just a plant smell, but because vervain was harmful to vampires, it helped Stefan stifle any urge to bite Elena.

As she pushed aside the shower curtain and stepped out of the bathtub, he handed her a fluffy towel. She was wearing a bouffant shower cap to keep her hair dry. He always thought she looked so cute with the thing perched on her head. He picked up a second towel and moved to dry her back.

"Feel a little better?" he asked, removing the shower cap and letting her long hair fall down her back. He loved her hair and sometimes she let him brush it. He had distant memories of his mother letting him brush her long hair. He hadn't been quite six years old when she had died.

"I feel cleaner," Elena said, toweling her front. She bent down to dry her legs.

Standing behind her, Stefan used the other towel to dry her round, smooth buttocks. His mind momentarily went to Damon's rear and he hoped the last treatment was the end of that episode. He went down on one knee and kissed the two neat mounds of Elena's flesh.

Elena stood up before he could do anything else. She still wasn't in the mood for much in the way of anything akin to sexual play. With a silent sigh, Stefan stood up too. He watched her brush her teeth and swish some mouthwash. He wanted to stand behind her and cup her breasts in his hands, but he held back. She slipped on her fuzzy pink bathrobe, unlocked the bathroom doors to Jeremy's bedroom and the hall, and then she headed into her own bedroom.

He followed her, bringing the locket with him. He placed it on the dresser. With or without it, he had no intention of biting her or compelling her. He was pleased to see her remove the robe and throw it over the back of a chair. She then turned to him.

"I could use someone to snuggle with," she said, "but I'm just not in the mood for more. Can we do that?" One of her hands came up to rest against his cheek.

"Sure," Stefan said, although looking at her standing there naked put a lot of other thoughts in his head. He tried not to let his body respond as she began to unbutton his shirt. He hadn't undressed because he hadn't even been sure she would want him to. He reached down and undid his pants, anticipating that if he let her do it, he would definitely get turned on and she didn't want that.

"Let me do this," he murmured to her, giving her a quick kiss. "Go ahead and get in bed."

Elena crawled under the covers and lay watching him undress. It wasn't a bad way to spend a minute. She tried not to think about the fact that he was equipped to commit rape or that he could compel a woman to submit when perhaps she really didn't want to. Nice as Stefan was, she knew it could happen. At least, he didn't do that sort of thing with her. He had respect for her wishes, to have sex or not to have sex.

Stefan got on the bed, slipping under the covers next to Elena. He lay on his side and used a finger to put a strand of her long hair behind her ear.

"I wish I could put it out of my mind," Elena said, frowning. "I'm just so upset. It won't go away."

"You know I can ease your mind. Compel you to shut it off for the night so you can relax and get some sleep," he said calmly.

"I don't know, Stefan. I'm tempted," Elena admitted. "But I don't think it would be fair to Dottie or her mother."

Stefan still wanted to do it for her, but in truth, his real reason was selfish. He wanted her to want sex with him. He even thought to himself that gentle sex might help her. Release some of her tension. It certainly would make him feel better. Was he just being a selfish male? he asked himself. Yes, he was, and he knew it.

Although he was normally averse to using his powers of suggestion on her, especially when she had just said she didn't want it, he went ahead and used it in a subtle way, sneaking it in as they talked, so that she seemed not to catch on, and soon she turned to him for intimacy as well as reassurance. He hadn't blocked the incident from her mind, but he had reduced her anger.

Afterward, they lay together and Elena seemed calmer to him. Her head rested on his abdomen, facing his legs. She had pulled the sheet up over his hips, hiding his private parts.

"Why do some men have to use that thing as a weapon?" she stated more than asked.

He had a multipart answer to that question, but he was sure Elena was in no mood to hear it, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he gently stroked her hair.

He saw her raise her fist and he thought she was going to hit his offending part. He reached out quickly and grabbed her wrist. He felt her relax, however.

"I wouldn't hit you," she said, not lifting her head.

"For a moment there, I wasn't sure," he admitted.

After a moment she changed the subject. "Your stomach is gurgling. Why does your stomach always gurgle after we make it together?"

"Hunger."

She lifted her head and turned to face him. "Hunger?"

"Yeah, hunger."

"Do you want to go downstairs and get something to eat?"

"It's not hunger for regular food. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but with us vampires, feeding and sex sort of go together."

"I thought if vampires got hungry for blood, they went out and got it. Compelled someone or attacked someone. And if you wanted sex, you found a willing woman. Like me." Her smile looked a bit uncertain.

"And you don't think the two might go together?" Stefan asked with a slight smile. He stroked the side of her face, raised his head and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

Elena didn't kiss him back, but instead gave him an intent look. "That sounds a lot like a vampire might compel a woman to have sex with him and then bite her. Maybe even kill her. Is that what you're saying?" She hadn't given any thought to the tie between the two. Would Stefan ever feed and rape? Or rape and feed?

He looked at her and realized he probably had opened a can of worms, so to speak. Considering her state of mind this evening, it likely was not a good idea to explore this subject. On top of that, he knew this was just before her monthly period and she likely had PMS, intensifying her emotions. That in itself could make her short-tempered.

"Stefan, are you saying that you're hungry and you're considering biting the hell out of me?" She raised up on her elbow and eyed him critically.

"I wouldn't do that! Come on, Elena, you know me better than that."

"But the thought crossed your mind, didn't it? The urge to bite! You'd like to _bite me_!"

"I've been cautious and careful with you right from the beginning. I love you. I don't want to bite you. You mean the world to me," he said gently, taking her head between his hands. Hell, yes, in the throes of orgasm he would love to bite her, but rationally he didn't want to.

"Your stomach says differently," she snapped, her dark eyes flashing.

"Ignore that. You know I seek very little blood. Animal blood."

"You've used mine," she accused.

"Under duress and you made me."

"I'll admit I did that because you needed it." She moved her head, so that his hands dropped away from her face. "What about Damon?"

Confused by this question, he asked, "What about Damon? I don't understand."

She frowned with thought. "He'd do it."

"What?' He didn't like this whole conversation.

"I can see it now. He lures a woman to him, charms her, has his way with her, bites her. Like he did Caroline! He could have _killed_ her, sucked her dry. Dead! He'd do it, wouldn't he, Stefan?" She was angry at the thought.

"I don't know about that. Maybe years ago …." He knew that when Damon was in a bad mood he would still do it, especially the biting part.

"Would he beat up a woman and rape her today?" Elena demanded, getting up from the bed. Her anger flared hotly. "The police didn't say whether that poor woman had been bitten, but Dottie's father said she had a neck wound ..."

"No! No, Damon wouldn't. You know him, his ways. He wouldn't do that." The bad part was that Stefan wasn't sure. He didn't know what Damon had been doing today. What if the damned witch's brew was still affecting Damon? What if it had made him lose control and he had done this bad thing? No, surely Damon hadn't brutally attacked that woman. It really wasn't his way.

He wondered what he could say to calm this angry young woman standing naked at the side of the bed and glaring at him. If he tried to compel her now, she would know it and become angrier.

"He kills way too easily, Stefan. And he has a way with women. I'm not blind. I've seen it. He's come on to _me _and I've seen his charming ways. I'll tell you what. You go find him. Question him. I want to know the truth! I want to _know _if he's the one who did this today."

She reached for the bright pink terry robe that was on a nearby chair. In anger, she yanked it into place, covering her body. Under other circumstances, she would not have thought Damon guilty of such a crime, but on this evening, her emotions were running rampant and she was thinking wild thoughts.

"He was _never_ into beating up woman, Elena," Stefan said, getting up from the bed and moving toward her.

She put out her hand and held him at bay. "Get dressed, Stefan. Go find him. God only knows what he's up to right now."

He stood there for a long moment just looking at her. He was really upset now, but he tried to hide it. As he pulled on his clothes, he wondered, what had happened to the nice evening he had expected? Okay, they had had decent sex, but now where had sane Elena gone?

"All right. I'll find him and talk to him. If he says he didn't do it, will you believe him?"

"I don't know. Will _you_?"

A/N I hope you like the new direction the story is going. Let me know, please.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N I want to thank all of you who have been regularly reading this story. Maybe some of you could list yourselves as "followers"? It looks so nice in the listing and it encourages me. Okay, it's an ego boost.

"Itchin' & Scratchin"

Stefan headed for the door and left without further word. He spotted Jenna at her bedroom door, likely concerned about why he and Elena were arguing. Down in his car, he phoned his brother. It wasn't late and he assumed Damon was still up. After one ring, Damon answered.

"Where are you?" Stefan asked.

"Why? Don't tell me Bonnie has come up with more bad news."

"No, but I want to talk to you."

"Well, talk."

"Not on the phone. Where are you?"

"At home. What's up?"

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Stefan walked into the big house not really knowing what to say to Damon. He didn't believe Damon had hurt the woman in question, but what if?

He found his brother in the living room, sitting on a sofa, watching television. He had a drink in his right hand, while his other hand was at the crotch of his pants. He moved the hand away.

"I expected you to be out and about," Stefan said.

"I was earlier. What's on your mind this time?"

"Did you hear about the woman who was beaten and raped?"

"Yes. I heard it from Liz. Why?"

"Did you do it?" Stefan forced himself to ask.

Damon stared at Stefan, an incredulous look on his face. "Why the hell would you even _think_ that?" His eyes narrowed as anger replaced surprise.

"You haven't been yourself lately, Damon. You've lost your temper at least twice. Totally freaked. Briefly, I'll admit. So answer me, did you do it?"

Damon got up from the sofa and gave his brother a hard look. "No, I did _not_! I don't beat up women and then rape them. And how did you hear about this rape?"

"From Elena. It was the mother of a classmate. I didn't think it was you. Really, I didn't, but I had to ask. Sorry."

"But _she _does_! Elena_ thinks I did it, doesn't she?" The idea upset Damon. How could she?

"She's wondering. I said I'd come and find out," Stefan admitted a bit lamely. "I'll admit I was a little unsure because of the witch's brew thing. You really have been violent lately. Has everything been all right today?"

Damon turned away and swallowed the last of his drink. He set the glass down and stood, staring at the television.

"Damon, what is it?"

"Nothing."

"Is the tingle back? Does your butt cheek hurt?"

"No. I'm fine."

"You're lying to me. What's going on? Are you lying to me about that woman?"

Damon turned back to him with glaring blue eyes and his hands in fists. "I said I _didn't _do it and I _meant_ it." He suddenly gave a short, humorless laugh. "I sure as hell _couldn't_ have raped her. I can't get it up." His left hand moved to the front of his jeans.

"What?"

"What part of 'can't get it up' don't you understand?"

Stefan just stared at Damon. That was just about the last thing he had ever expected to hear his brother say.

Damon broke the awkward silence. "Yeah, well, I'm as stunned as you are."

"Were you with a woman this evening? I mean, when did this problem come to light?"

"Earlier today when I should have gotten a response and didn't," Damon said.

There followed a brief discussion of what Damon had tried in order to establish that he was really impotent, which it seemed that now he was.

"Nothing works. In fact, it doesn't even feel right. It …."

"Don't tell me it tingles," Stefan said, interrupting his brother.

"Yeah, but not in a fun way. More of a sore itch," Damon muttered, scratching.

Stefan felt his shoulders sag with disappointment. Damon wasn't cured. He needed another treatment. And how many more?

"I'll tell you one thing, little brother."

"What?"

"This is one place you are _not_ using that damned sandpaper on." His hand protectively cupped the area in question.

The very idea made Stefan's privates crawl. "I can't see doing that either."

"It's probably something Katherine would like to try," Damon said with disgust. "This makes me sick! We really have to go after those two young bitches that stuck me." His fingers rubbed against the persistent itchy tingle in his groin. He was definitely uncomfortable.

"Someone else is probably behind it, but those girls could tell us who," Stefan said.

"They certainly would tell if I could get _my _hands on them."

There was a knock on the front door and the brothers looked at each other. Damon swore softly and indicated with a nod of his head that Stefan go see who was there. It turned out to be Elena. He let her in.

"I came to apologize, Stefan," she said as she walked with him to the living room. They saw Damon pouring himself whiskey from a decanter on a small table beside the sofa. "I was upset and really bitchy tonight," she explained.

"PMS," Damon said, turning to face her and sipping his drink. His expression was neither happy nor mischievous, which he usually was when he saw her.

Elena looked a bit surprised. She knew Stefan kept track of her very-regular periods. Apparently, so did Damon. The PMS did make her emotional.

"My brother tells me you think I beat and raped some woman today. I can't believe you thought I was that low. That hurts, Elena," Damon said in a reproachful tone.

"It's sometimes hard to know just what you would or would not do, Damon."

"He didn't do it," Stefan assured her.

"That's the truth. I didn't," Damon said, now in a snarky tone.

"I shouldn't have accused you. I apologize. I'm just so _angry _about what happened. To think someone did that to the poor woman. Her daughter Dottie is just devastated."

"They'll get over it. They just have to put it behind them," Damon said.

The comment struck Elena as totally insensitive and callous. Furious and red-faced, she screamed at him, "_Get over it? Get over it_? You have _no idea_ how that woman feels! How violated and degraded she must feel! You bastard!"

Neither man made a move to touch her. Stefan wanted to hug her to calm her, but he had a feeling that she was angry enough to kick him in the groin just because he was a man.

Damon's eyes narrowed. "Elena, listen to me. Are you listening? Good. In my life I've been beaten, burned, branded, stabbed with lances, swords, knives and wooden stakes, shot with arrows, bolts and bullets - both metal and wooden - , raped, tortured, mutilated, bones broken, poisoned, injected with stuff and killed. Oh, and let's not forget sandpapered. I've healed every damned time, so people can do _more _stuff to me. And except when plotting revenge, I've put it behind me. You _can't_ carry it around with you! It's too heavy a burden!"

Elena stared at Damon with her mouth open, shocked at what he had said and been through, but also at the realization that Stefan had likely suffered many of the same insults to his body. She had caught the word 'raped' in the list of all those cruelties. She felt despair because the world was so cruel. People were so cruel to each other! She burst into tears. All three of them knew Damon was right about the PMS.

Stefan took a chance and put his arms around Elena. He was relieved when she pressed against him and sobbed into the front of his shirt. He just hoped she didn't question him about the various indignities he had suffered. He wasn't totally happy with Damon's confession. He looked at his brother, who had gone back to scratching his itch, since Elena wasn't looking. None of the three of them was happy with the way things were going.

Damon threw his head back and downed the rest of his drink. When he lowered his head he found both Stefan and Elena watching him scratch. He removed his hand and shrugged.

"Damon's got a problem again," Stefan told her.

"Oh, no! He needs another treatment?" Elena asked, wiping her face with a tissue she had had in a pocket. She looked up at the worried expression on Stefan's face.

"We haven't figured out if that's true or how to do it. It isn't his butt that's the problem this time," Stefan said.

Elena looked at the crotch of Damon's jeans. She saw him put his hand in his left pocket. He was scratching. "You didn't get injected there, did you?"

"No, he didn't," Stefan said. "Remember, I checked the first night."

"I can answer her questions myself, thank you," Damon growled at his brother.

Still, Stefan said, "This time he has an itch. And something else has come up."

"Not 'up'," Damon said. "That's the problem."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"He seems to be impotent." He kept answering before Damon could, but in this case, Damon didn't mind. Much. It was an embarrassing thing to admit to.

"Blabbermouth," Damon said, rolling his eyes. He looked at the empty glass in his right hand and, removing his left hand from his pocket, he reached for the decanter again.

Stefan watched his brother pour more bourbon. Damon could drink a lot before he became drunk, but it looked like he was headed that way. He supposed it was understandable.

Damon downed half of what he had poured as he headed for a sofa. He stopped suddenly and swore. He started scratching just above his belt buckle. He dropped his glass and used both hands to frantically scratch his abdomen. "_Ants!_ Ants are biting me!"

A/N This chapter is a bit short, but I hope you found it interesting. I stopped where I did because I thought it made a cliff-hanger. Please give me some feedback on how this is going.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N Sorry about the delay. This chapter is a bit short, but it gives me the chance to make a couple more chapters. Thanks to you all who are reading this story. Hope you enjoy it.

"Spots"

_"Ants! Ants are biting me," Damon exclaimed._

He pulled his abdominal muscles in so he could scratch under his belt.

Stefan moved over to him and undid a couple of low buttons of the maroon shirt Damon was wearing. What he saw surprised him. "You've got a rash all over your belly! No ants that I can see. What the hell is this you got?"

"He looks like he has measles," Elena said, eyeing Damon's spotted skin. "Mrs. Whitman's baby has measles. You can't get a disease like that, can you?"

"No," Stefan said. "Our bodies kill disease germs. What could this be? If you got it in your crotch, no wonder you itch."

"Well, dammit, I got something!" Damon bellowed, scratching frantically.

"A witch's spell?" Elena asked. "I mean, witches caused the other problem."

The brothers looked at her with alarm. Damon kept scratching until his skin was bleeding. Stefan looked down at the whiskey glass on the floor. "Or something in the bourbon. We were both out of the house today. I was at school. You said you were out for a while. Someone could have come in and put something in your bourbon. You're the one who drinks the most from that decanter."

Stefan occasionally drank bourbon, but not nearly as often as Damon did.

"And who would know _that?_ You and me and Katherine. Elena?" Damon demanded, shaking his head as he scratched the right side of his chest through his shirt.

Elena looked surprised that he would even think of her doing that. "Me? I wouldn't do that to you! And I never pay any attention to which decanter you pour from. I better call Bonnie again," she said, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. She tended not to carry a purse half the time, but stuffed things in her various jacket pockets. She moved to the hall.

"It's too late for me to puke it up if it was something in the whiskey," Damon said. He knew his system absorbed liquor very quickly. He started to scratch his crotch again, but stopped. "Damn. That hurts now. I'm getting really sore." He turned away from Elena's view as she stood in the doorway to the hall, unzipped, inspected himself and zipped up again.

Stefan looked at him questioningly.

"It looks like I've already been sandpapered. And I don't see any sign of healing," Damon muttered. "I'm in so much trouble here!" He shuddered and scratched his left armpit.

"We'll figure it out," Stefan said with more assurance than he felt. He laid a hand on Damon's shoulder and gave a small squeeze. He didn't think his big brother looked well at all. The maroon shirt was damp now and Damon smelled of sweat. Vampires rarely sweated unless they were very ill or poisoned. He didn't think Damon had produced a drop of sweat during the rabies illness.

"You're sweating," he commented worriedly.

"I _know,_ dammit! And it stings when it gets in the sores I got now."

Damon winced and pulled away from the hand on his shoulder. "You better not touch me. This may actually be a communicable disease as far as you two are concerned." He backed up to the edge of the doorway to the living room and rubbed his back like a bear against a tree trunk. In a moment there were red smears on the doorframe.

Elena, who was standing there on her phone moved out of the way. "I'm sorry it's so late, Bonnie, but I think we could use your help over here," she was saying. "Damon has broken out in a rash and he's going crazy scratching. He's even bleeding now. Okay. Thank you."

After ending the call, she said, "Bonnie will be here as soon as she can. She was sound asleep. I told her about the situation. She'll consult her books and try to help."

"Good," Stefan said. He had felt safe touching his brother, but now he wondered. And he worried that Elena was in danger.

"I think I better go upstairs and take a shower. Maybe that would help," Damon said. He was starting to shiver. Half way up the stairs, his teeth started to chatter. He scratched one arm with the other hand. Blood came through the shirt sleeve. He scratched his crotch carefully and swore at the soreness. There was already some blood on the front of his jeans.

While Elena stayed downstairs to await Bonnie, Stefan followed Damon, too worried to leave him alone. In the bedroom, Damon scratched and drew blood on both sleeves and shirt front.

"I've gotta get outta these clothes!" he yelped, practically squirming in them. He pulled the shirt tails from under his belt, popping off buttons as he ripped the shirt off. The rash was visible all over his chest, back and arms. It was creeping up toward his neck. Many of the spots had been scratched raw and were bleeding. They didn't heal as they should have. He kicked off his shoes and quickly shed his jeans. The rash was down as far as his knees. He pushed down the briefs and stepped out of them.

Stefan got a view of Damon's buttocks and saw that the previous red lesion was not there, only the spotty rash. Whatever was wrong, it was not the same problem as before.

Elena stood in the downstairs hall, waiting for Bonnie and listening to Damon groan and curse. She was distressed by Damon's situation and could sort of visualize him now naked, spotted and oozing. She didn't hear any water running. Perhaps he had changed his mind about the shower.

For the briefest second she thought that if he had attacked the woman, he was paying for it now. Then she realized that she believed him when he said he didn't do it. She even felt a touch of guilt for having thought that he had done it.

Upstairs, the brothers had reached a point of not knowing what to do, what would help. "Can you lie down?" Stefan asked Damon, who was just standing by the bed, shivering, scratching and bleeding. He moved to the bed and pulled down the duvet. "I can put towels on the bed again."

"No! I don't want to lie down. My skin feels like it's been burned."

"All right. What about the shower? Hot water? Cold water?"

"No! I don't want _anything_ to touch me," Damon snapped. His hands kept moving to places he wanted to scratch, but then he gritted his teeth and didn't touch his skin. He looked down at his private parts from which a small trickle of blood dripped, and he groaned.

"Look at me! I look like God has visited a pestilence on me. That can't be. I'm not an evil person. Okay, so I'm a vampire and I've done bad things. But do I deserve this?" he whined through chattering teeth as he waved his arms around.

"I don't think it's God's punishment. I think it's poison or a spell. Once again we have to rely on Bonnie. A little while ago you reeled off a list of things you have suffered and survived. Add this to the list."

"Easy for you to say," Damon said, reaching back to scratch his buttocks crack.

"No, it's not easy for me. I don't like to see you like this. I _do_ care, Damon."

"I know you do."

"Stop that scratching! You're just making yourself bleed more."

"Dammit, Stefan, I can't help it! Man, I wish we had some numbing ointment right now. Hell, if I had some, I'd rub that hemorrhoid ointment all over me if it would stop the itch. And now I can hardly move. I feel stiff all over. Well, not quite all over." He glanced downward at his groin. He shuddered violently and gasped as it hurt his skin.

"Can I do _anything_ to help?" Stefan asked.

"Scratch my back. Between my shoulder blades." He tried to reach the spot, but couldn't. He was causing more bleeding.

"No."

"Big help you are," Damon snapped, his teeth chattering.

"You look like you're freezing. Can I put a blanket over you?"

Damon shook his head. "No! I said I can't stand anything touching my skin. Even the bottoms of my feet hurt. I guess I'll just stand here, cold and helpless, one big weeping wound, and wait for new developments. Unless you have a better idea."

"Unfortunately, I don't," Stefan said, so he stood there with his brother and they waited to see what would happen next. He noticed that the rash had not progressed up to Damon's face, nor down past his knees, even if his feet ached. It didn't seem to be getting worse. Would it recede on its own?

Damon's cell phone rang. It was in his pants pocket in the pile of clothes on the floor. Stefan bent down and fished it out. He checked to see who was calling. "It's Margaret Webster that you were with the other night."

"Damn. Hold it to my ear."

Stefan opened the phone and held it to Damon's right ear which he had scratched and it was now oozing.

"Maggie, this is a bad time to talk. Look, sweetie, can I call you tomorrow? Good. I'll talk to you then. Good night." He moved his head away from the phone and watched Stefan close it. While he swore and groaned with discomfort and agitation, he watched Stefan bend down, pick up the underpants and carefully wipe the bit of blood from the phone using a clean patch of cloth. The younger brother then laid the cell on a nearby table.

Damon now stopped breathing for the most part because the movement hurt his skin. Resisting scratching the itch was torment. He closed his eyes and shivered again. That made his gasp.

Like Stefan, Damon could hear Elena's voice once in a while. She must be on the phone with Bonnie again. Was Bonnie working on the problem? Was she making any progress? During the last few days he had become very reliant on the petite girl, and the witch didn't even like him! Now Elena had woken her up and asked her to help him again.

Damon groaned loudly and flinched. Stefan saw that _all_ of his skin was suddenly flushed bright red, even his face. Then his skin went white, except for the smears of blood and the trickles of it running down his body. Then it went red again. A long moment later, he was white again. The rash spots blended with the red body color and disappeared with the white.

"I'm a damned neon sign!" Damon gasped, staring down at the front of his body and at his arms. He and Stefan watched the display in both amazement and alarm. Every time the skin went red, Damon grunted with pain.

"Someone's throwing the damned switch!" Damon gasped. "On with the red and the itch. Off with none of it. What the hell is going on?"

"I wish I knew. I hope Bonnie can find an answer," Stefan muttered, helpless to do anything.

From somewhere in the house there came a muffled crash and a scream. Stefan wasted no time heading out of the bedroom, across the hall and down the stairs. He feared for Elena. What could have happened?

A/N Evil is afoot in the house, as they say. I'm working on the next chapter, so hang in there. Love to get more comments.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N Thanks for the reviews, especially thanks to QT05, Tinyflyer02 and Vie. It makes me happy that you all like what I'm writing. I should get two more chapters out of this story.

_Stefan went across the hall and down the stairs. He feared for Elena. What could have happened?_

"Answers"

Stefan reached the downstairs hall and frantically looked around. He glanced into the living room. No Elena. He then zipped to the study across the hall.

"Elena! Where are you?" he called fearfully.

"Here," she said and he saw her standing in the corner of the study, behind the piano, her cell phone to her ear. She looked alarmed.

"Are you all right?" he asked, moving to her.

"Yes. Bonnie's in a power struggle with someone! Another witch!"

"What do you mean?"

"Another witch is aiming a spell at Damon. The rash and itching. Bonnie's trying to cancel that spell and the other witch is fighting it."

"Damn! Come on, Bonnie. Do your thing. You can do it!" he said loud enough that Bonnie likely could hear it over Elena's phone.

"Did you hear that noise? Someone screamed!" Elena said to Stefan as she looked toward the hall fearfully.

He nodded and stood listening intently. Someone else had to be in the house. Could it be Katherine or someone else? What if the witch was actually in the house this minute? He heard another crash and another scream, and he knew the sounds came from the cellar.

Moving to the hall, he saw Damon coming down the stairs wearing his blood-spotted jeans, but nothing else. His skin was neither red nor spotted, although he had trails and smears of drying blood on him.

"Downstairs," Stefan said, pointing at the floor. There was a large basement under the house, with different areas put to various uses. "Katherine? Do you think something happened to Katherine?"

"Katherine isn't much of a screamer," Damon said doubtfully.

They were moving toward the nearest door leading down to the cellar when the door opened. A disheveled young woman came into the hall, pushed along by Katherine.

"Look what I found," Katherine said, holding onto the girl's arm. "She and a pal were casting a spell. Candles and all. I heard one of them use Damon's and Bonnie's names in vain, so I felt the need to interfere. Hope that's okay with you, Damon."

"Fine by me. Thanks," he said.

He eyed the young woman critically. The girl's expression was both angry and alarmed. "Haven't we met before?" he asked her. "Like, didn't you want to use my phone to call AAA?" His guess was that the girl was maybe nineteen.

She glowered at him, aimed a wicked look at him and raised her free hand toward him. He was knocked back a step by the force of it. He grabbed his head as pain filled his brain and he staggered. Like Bonnie, she seemed to be a witch of some power.

Katherine struck her a nasty kidney blow and the girl cried out and fell to her knees.

Damon's head pain stopped and he regained his balance. He wanted to kill the girl, but he had questions.

"Behave yourself or you'll join your friend," Katherine said, still holding onto the girl's arm and hauling her to her feet.

"Please don't hurt me," the girl said, her defiance melting away into tears. "This wasn't my idea. I swear."

"Where is her friend?" Stefan asked.

"Dead. Suffered some unfortunate accident," Katherine said with a shrug. "I thought you might like to talk to this one."

Elena had joined them in the hall and she came up beside Stefan. "Bonnie's coming over," she told him as she put her phone away. She eyed Katherine and the captive. She also glanced at Damon and could see that his previous condition was markedly improved, if not gone.

"What's your name?" Damon demanded of the girl.

"Carly Oberson," the girl said, wiping tears from her face. She then looked directly at him, not really defiantly, but with a bit of pride. She had dark blond hair, freckles and green eyes. Her figure was very slender, but her clothes fit her well.

"And your friend? _Late_ friend?"

"Willa Buckner. All this was her idea."

"Sure. Blame it on someone who can't contradict you," Damon said with a snort.

"It happens to be true."

"Why? What'd she have against me?" Damon demanded, his blue eyes glinting with anger over his recent suffering.

"She was in love with Luka Martin. When she heard that he was dead, she did a spell that pointed to you as Luka's killer."

"I did kill him, but at the time, I didn't know who I was killing. It just had to be done," Damon said. "He did a foolish thing."

"All Willa cared was that he was dead. He and his father were looking for Greta, his sister. Do you know Greta?"

"No."

"She's a strong witch. As strong as Willa. Stronger than me. Greta got obsessed with some old geezer vampire named Klaus for some reason. Her father thought the vampire kidnapped her to use her power, but I think she looked to the old guy like he was a god or something. I know she went of her own free will," Carly said. She tried to pull her arm away from Katherine's painful grip, but the lady vampire just tightened her grip.

"You're hurting me!"

"Like you and your friend didn't hurt Damon?" Katherine snarked.

"So, where's this Greta now?" Damon asked.

"Went to serve him, Klaus. I never saw the guy, but I know Greta met some man who was also a witch. Or he had powers. He worked for this Klaus. He told her about the old guy and she jumped at the chance to help him out. I think that's totally weird. Helping a _vampire."_

"Not all vampires are evil," Damon growled.

"Yes, they are," Carly affirmed. "Anyway, Luka and his dad came to this town looking for Greta, I guess. And you killed Luka. Did you kill his dad, too?"

"No," Damon said. He wished that the Martins had not been connected in some way to the Original vampires Klaus and Elijah, who, legend said, were impossible to kill. Elijah had been daggered, but that didn't cause permanent death.

"Willa hated you and wanted to make you suffer. She didn't want to kill you, at least not right away," Carly went on. "We found out where you lived and we staked out the house. You know, like we were going to rob you or something. It took us three days and nights to see who came and went from here most of the time. And we saw who was sneaking in a back way to the basement. At first we thought it was her (Carly pointed to Elena), but then we figured out it was a different person. Are you two twins?"

"Not hardly," Katherine said with a snort. "We're distantly related and just happen to look like twins." It was obvious that she didn't like Elena.

"Oh. Well, Willa had cooked up the rabies stuff and we came over here. You let us in and she injected you," she said to Damon. "She had a crystal ball and we could watch you. See what happened."

"You two saw it all?" Damon asked, dismayed. They had watched him being treated with the mother's first milk? They had seen him getting his butt sandpapered? That was a humiliating thought.

"Some," the girl said. "We weren't out there around the clock. We had to sleep and eat, you know."

This statement didn't make Damon feel any better.

"When your witch helped cure you, Willa came up with the idea of the itchy rash. We came into the house earlier today when both of you were gone and drugged the liquor. We had used binoculars to see in the windows when the curtains weren't pulled. You drink a lot."

"Damn bitch! How many of the bottles or decanters are poisoned?"

"Four of them. The different kinds of whiskey. That, plus the spell Willa was doing down in the cellar, is what caused the rash and itching."

"That is damned expensive bourbon and scotch! Now I have to pour it down the drain! And what about my…erectile dysfunction, if you get what I mean?" Damon asked, his hand going to his crotch.

Carly couldn't keep from smiling. "Got a problem there? Something doesn't work anymore?"

"Tell me or, so help me, I'll make you wish you were as dead as your friend."

"The spell is broken! You should be fine, assuming you were fine before the spell."

"_Should_ be? I want a better answer than that, girl. It was working perfectly before the spell and it better be working perfectly again," Damon said in a cold tone.

"It was Willa's doing. She's dead. I can't answer your question any better," Carly said, a couple of tears running down her face again. Her expression showed she feared some terrible retribution.

"Katherine, hold her downstairs until I have a chance to test things. I want to know this problem's gone before we do anything to her."

"All right. Good luck," Katherine said with a little smile. "If you have any trouble, I'm sure I can help." She grabbed the girl's hair and yanked her toward the stairs.

"Please! I'll never come near any of you again! Please!" the girl cried.

Katherine grabbed her around the waist and dragged her to the open cellar door.

"Damon! Katherine, no!" Elena cried.

Katherine halted when Damon spoke her name.

"Please spare her, Damon. Don't let Katherine kill her," Elena pleaded. She didn't think she could face having Katherine murder the second girl. "I know she has helped put you through hell, but give her a chance. Please."

The girl spoke up again. "Let me take my friend's body away and you'll never see me again. Losing my best friend is a terrible punishment for me. Please."

"Please, Damon," Elena said, more calmly. "The person who planned this is dead already. Let Carly go. It's over now."

Damon glared at Elena. Easy for her to be forgiving. She hadn't been the one to suffer humiliation and pain. And impotence, an affront to his very manliness, his masculine ego.

"Please, Damon," Elena said again, her expression pleading.

"Oh, all right. All right," Damon snapped. He was doing this for Elena, not because he felt any compassion for the young witch. He didn't care if Katherine killed her. "Katherine, just put her in a cell for now. When I know I'm okay you can help her get that body out of the cellar. Okay? Will you do that?"

"If you insist," Katherine said. "But you owe me. I'll have to think of a way to collect." She gave him a meaningful look with a small smirk, and then she took the girl down the cellar stairs.

"Thank you," came Carly's voice as the two disappeared.

Elena could only hope that Katherine didn't murder Carly once they were down in the cellar.

Before Damon could do anything to test his recovery, a knock on the front door redirected their attention.

"Hello?" came Bonnie's voice. It was Damon who let her in. She stared at his bare chest and abdomen streaked with blood.

"Are you okay now?" she asked, her eyes going back up to his face.

"Yes. The spots and itching are gone. Thanks again," Damon said grudgingly. "I seem to be getting more and more indebted to you."

"Yes, you are," Bonnie muttered. She was tired and she wasn't happy having to do these spells for Damon. "Did you find the one casting the spell?"

"Katherine did. Down in the basement," Damon said as Stefan and Elena joined them by the door. Damon closed it and the group quickly filled Bonnie in on the few facts that she didn't already know. About the time they were finished, Katherine returned, eyeing Bonnie. It was hard for anyone to tell what Katherine really thought of Bonnie, because she didn't make cutting remarks to her like she did to Elena.

"Where's the girl?" Damon demanded.

"I locked her in a cell like you said. So what's the verdict?" Katherine asked him.

"Um, I don't know yet. I haven't tested it."

She moved close to him, slipped her arms around him, face to face, and boldly pressed her body right against the front of his jeans. She wiggled her hips.

"Any life down there? I'll be insulted if we don't get some response."

"Geez, Kat, right in front of everyone?" he growled, but he slipped his arms around her to be sure she stayed in place.

With her rubbing against him, he let his thoughts move to the last time he had been intimate with her. He was very relieved to feel himself responding, even though the group was paying close attention, even Bonnie. With a lopsided grin, he moved Katherine away from him and looked down.

"Behold! It's alive!" he announced.

Everyone looked at the growing bulge in his pants.

Elena and Bonnie looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Congratulations! It's a boy," Katherine said with a grin and she added a crude comment. She then left to take care of the problems in the cellar. "I'll be back."

Bonnie turned to leave, opening the front door. When Damon thanked her again for her help, she nodded and walked outside. Damon followed, walking her to her car.

"Are you all right driving home alone?" he asked. It was one o'clock in the morning now.

"I'll be fine, Damon. You need to take a shower. You look ghoulish." She looked at his blood-streaked chest, arms and abdomen. She didn't look lower than that. In a moment she was backing the car out of the driveway.

Damon was ready for a nice hot shower. He was relieved this nightmare was over. With a sigh, he padded barefoot to the porch and into the hall where his brother was with Elena.

Stefan, relieved that the crisis was over, had his arms around Elena and was holding her close. He thought he felt a stirring of body parts himself. He definitely felt great relief that Damon's "illness" was finally cured.

"Are you ready to go home?" he murmured to her.

"I think so. I've had enough for today," Elena said, weariness washing over her.

"Elena," Damon said. "Thanks for your help with all this." He felt embarrassed, even though he couldn't remember some of what he had done or said in her presence over the past four days.

She stepped away from Stefan and reached out, taking one of Damon's hands. "I need to apologize again, Damon. I'm sorry I thought you might have attacked that woman. I know you wouldn't do that. My emotions are just crazy sometimes."

"Forget it. Okay?" he said, squeezing her hand. In fact, he raised it up to his lips and kissed it. The old twinkle was back in his eyes.

"All right." She took her hand back.

"If you all will excuse me, I really need to take a shower," Damon said, looking at the dried blood streaks on his body. He headed for the stairs.

Stefan eyed Elena and asked, "May I join you at your house?"

"I'd like that. I hope you've forgiven me for my freak-out earlier. I don't know what came over me."

"Like Damon said, forget it," Stefan said. He called out to his brother who was climbing the stairs. "Damon, I'm going over to Elena's. Are you going to be all right?"

"I'm fine. Have fun, kids," Damon called back.

Stefan drove his own car, following Elena back to her house and he stayed the rest of the night in her bed. He was relieved to find that Elena really was able to fall asleep in his arms.

A/N Hope you all liked this chapter. I probably won't publish the next one for a week. There's a hurricane going to be off shore of our area. And then, I'll be going to Atlanta next weekend. DragonCon! I hope to get to see the _group_ and get a photo with Ian. I really hope nothing happens to prevent that! Then I'll get back to writing.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A/N I'm back from Atlanta. Had a great time. Picture with Ian! To QT05: I did get all of your reviews, except for Chapter 10. Thanks so much. And thanks to all of you who are reading this story. The remaining chapter or two will just be wrap-ups of certain points in the story. This chapter is a little short, I'm afraid.

"Junior"

Back at the Salvatore house, Damon went up to his bedroom, but he didn't head right for the shower. He opened the door to his bedside table and took out a bottle of bourbon. It was one of the more expensive brands. He went into the bathroom and picked up the glass that was there, pouring into it a good shot of liquor. He hadn't used the bottle in the last couple of weeks, so he felt sure that the witches hadn't known about it and hadn't poisoned it.

He took a good swallow and then, as he sipped more, he looked at himself in the full-length mirror. What a mess! His skin was healed of spots and scratches, but dried smears and trickles of blood were everywhere. He didn't itch anymore, but he thought that what the witch Willa had done had been really mean. True, she could have done worse. And it was also true that if he and Stefan didn't have their "own" witch, he might still be unconscious with the rabies.

He set the glass aside and undid his jeans, letting them fall to the floor. He kicked them aside. Again, he looked in the mirror. Things looked normal there, too. He reached down and took hold of himself. Making him impotent had been really mean, too. How he thought of himself included sexual proficiency. His self-image would have been seriously damaged.

"Poor boy. I thought you were ruined for a while there. You feeling up to par now?" he asked.

He normally didn't spend time talking to his lower anatomy, but it had had such a bad time this evening. Except for the dried blood, there was now no sign of the scratched and bleeding injuries to his skin, no soreness or pain. No itch or weird feeling. It had all healed quickly as soon as Bonnie had interfered with the spell. He certainly owned the teenaged witch a big debt. He had no idea how he could repay her. She didn't like him. What could he do to please her, aside from leaving town forever?

A little motion from his hand had Damon Jr. starting to perk right up "Good boy. If Katherine does come back, maybe you can show me you're really up for the game. You won't mind if it's Katherine, will you? Hell, no. You don't care who it is, do you?"

Having reassured each other, Damon and Junior went into the shower and spent time under the hot water. The chill he had felt earlier had not gone away completely. As a vampire, his body didn't generate much internal heat, and the hot water helped. He loved hot showers and soaks in a tub of hot water. Now, he washed his hair and scrubbed his face, arms ,chest and abdomen with a wash cloth and soap. He used a bath brush on his shoulders, back and legs, enjoying the good feeling instead of nasty soreness. He didn't use the brush on his more sensitive parts, of course, but he removed the dried blood all right. Junior seemed to like the attention.

Eventually, Damon got out of the shower. Once he was dry, he pulled on a clean pair of jeans and went downstairs. With much grumbling and swearing, he rounded up the bottles and decanters that held any bourbon or scotch and took them to the kitchen. There, he grudgingly poured the liquor down the drain. He put the bottles in the recycle area, rinsed out the fine crystal decanters, and left them in the sink to get a good washing.

As he checked that the back door was locked, he considered looking for the unlocked door that Katherine and the two witches had used. He should lock that door, but he decided against it in case Katherine came back. He wanted Katherine to come back. As much as she infuriated him sometimes, he still had feelings for her. But more importantly, she was really fun in bed and he needed her tonight.

He turned out the downstairs lights and returned to his own room. He kicked off his jeans and looked at his bed. The fear he had felt the night before was gone. Apparently Stefan had been right; the fear was part of the spell. With the drapes drawn and the bedside light on, he lay down on his back, hands under his head, and thought about what had happened and why it had come about. A person never knew what might happen as a result of some action one took. He usually didn't spend a lot of time considering consequences.

Katherine did come back. She showed up at the door to his bedroom. She leaned against the door frame and boldly looked him over as he lay there naked.

"You figured I would come back, didn't you?" she said, sauntering over to stand beside the bed. Her hips swayed suggestively.

"That was the message I got."

She tossed something to him and he caught it. It was a clear glass ball the size of a golf ball.

"The crystal ball," she said. "If they were watching us treat your ass, they were watching on a really small screen."

He muttered a curse and stared into the glass. He saw nothing but glass. He reached over and put it in the drawer of the nightstand.

"Did you let her go or did you kill her?" Damon asked, lying back down.

"You told me to let her go and I did. We put her pal in the back seat of her car," Katherine said as she started to undress. She was not dressed at all like Elena. The two girls used very different clothing styles, except when Katherine wanted to pass herself off as Elena.

Damon watched the clothes come off in an erotic manner. He could have jumped up and speeded things along, but he enjoyed the way this young woman slowly peeled her clothes off, showing more and more of her fine body. In addition, she added sensuous body movements.

"I'd let you remove my underwear, but you'd probably rip something," she said as she undid her bra.

"I wouldn't if you told me not to," Damon assured her.

"Then don't," she said, leaving her lace panties in place. She joined him on the big bed and eventually he took the undies off in one piece. Damon Jr. performed magnificently when called upon, which made both Damon and Katherine happy.

"I think it's safe for you to breathe a sigh of relief, Damon," Katherine chuckled.

"Oh, I am," he said, a big grin on his face.

Some time later, Damon said, "There's something I want to do. Get dressed. Come with me."

"Where? Doing what?" Katherine asked.

"I want to look for someone. We're going on a hunt. For someone specific."

"Sounds like fun. Okay."

They got up, dressed and left in Damon's car. They were gone the rest of the night.

A/N Hope you like this little chapter. I guess it only dealt with one subject, but it was something really important to Damon, considering what had happened to him. Now, what is he up to?


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A/N This is the last chapter of "Rabies and Spots". It's been a fun story to write. Finding ways to be mean to Damon can be a challenge, but it gave me the chance to show how much Stefan really cares about his brother.

"Morning After."

Stefan woke before Elena's alarm clock went off. The room was dark, but he could see her easily. He was lying on his side, an arm over Elena's abdomen. She was lying on her back, snoring softly. A lock of her dark hair was resting across her lips and every time she breathed out, the lock lifted a bit and then settled down again. He was surprised that its touch didn't make her move it away.

Her face, which had been so tensely emotional last evening, was now relaxed, soft and beautiful. He wanted to stroke her face and kiss her lips, but he didn't. She needed every minute of sleep she could get because it had been so late when she had fallen asleep. It was too bad it was a school day.

Stefan let his mind wander, wondering how his brother had fared for the rest of the night. Had Katherine returned and had Damon been receptive to her advances? It seemed like it would be good for Damon's confidence to have her in his bed. As long as they didn't get into a big argument and insult each other. As long as his erectile dysfunction was truly gone. He couldn't imagine Damon without that ability.

Stefan reached out and carefully brushed the strand of Elena's hair from her face. Her lips moved for a moment, but she didn't waken. He glanced at the glowing red numbers on her clock and saw that the alarm would go off in a minute. It really wouldn't matter if he woke her with a kiss a tiny bit early.

Breathing deeply, he inhaled her scent, which he loved. Besides her usual natural fragrance, he could detect the change that had come about in her hormones during the last 24 hours. She was about to start her period and the unstable emotions of the PMS would abate. He wouldn't share her bed during the next few nights because he was just too sensitive to the scent of blood and he didn't want to lose control and bite her. She understood this.

He leaned close and let his lips gently touch hers. The tip of his tongue just barely touched the softness. She stirred, her lips puckering a bit to kiss him as she sighed deeply. With her eyes still closed, she moved her right arm to touch his cheek. Just then the alarm went off and she gave a start, accidentally punching him on the side of his face.

"Oh, Stefan! I'm sorry," she gasped as her eyes flew open, and she was torn between apologizing and reaching for the annoying alarm. She reached for the alarm, tuning it off. "Are you okay?"

"Sure. Remind me not to kiss you when the alarm is ready to go off," he chuckled.

"I think it's safe now," she said suggestively, reaching up to his face again. She often worried about morning breath, but he didn't seem to mind. She found his breath almost always neutral, unless he had had blood. Although he often hunted wild animals in the morning, he usually didn't if he spent the night with her. Unlike the Salvatore house, her home had no large back yard or nearby woods for deer or rabbits.

"I better get in the bathroom," she murmured. Since she and Jeremy shared a bathroom, they had long ago established a routine in which she got the room first. After all, she was the older sibling. She reached for the bedside lamp and turned it on, flooding the room with a soft light. She turned her face to him again and planted a quick kiss.

"Want company?" he whispered.

"Not this morning. Why don't you get dressed while I shower and brush my teeth?"

"Oh, all right," he said with an exaggerated sigh. He watched her get out of bed and walk toward the bathroom door. He loved the back view of her almost as much as he loved the front.

So, Stefan got up and dressed in the clothes he had worn the evening before. He would eat a quick breakfast with Elena and then go home to shower and change for school. He rubbed his jaw and decided he would shave, too. He only shaved every five days or so anyway because of his slow-growing beard.

He went down to the kitchen, getting there before Jenna, who also got up early. She had her own bathroom. He started the coffee maker and got out the bread to make toast. From the refrigerator, he got out the milk, the pitcher of orange juice and the butter. Elena had been eating cereal for breakfast lately, so he didn't get out the eggs or bacon.

In a short while, both Elena and Jenna joined him and they finished preparing breakfast. Jenna tended to turn on the small television that was on the kitchen counter so that while they were there, they could catch the morning weather and news.

In minutes, they saw a news conference being held on the courthouse steps. The sheriff's office was in the same building and Sheriff Liz Forbes was talking to a couple of reporters in the dim light of dawn. Lights from the media spotlighted her. She stated that she and her deputies had found and arrested the rapist two hours earlier. The TV showed a small group gathered with the sheriff outside her office. For a brief moment, the screen showed Damon standing off to the side, somewhat behind one of the deputies.

Elena and Stefan exchanged looks, but Jenna was looking at her plate at the moment and saw neither the look nor the quick glimpse of Damon.

The sheriff's comments to the reporters included the information that an anonymous phone call from a woman had led them to the man, who rented a small house on the south edge of town. Also, she mentioned that the rapist had been attacked in his home and had suffered some sort of injury, apparently a reflection of the crime he had committed the day before. He was in the same hospital as his victim. For some reason, he seemed unable to describe the person who had attacked him. Stefan and Elena looked at each other again. They had no doubt that Damon had caused the injury, whatever it had entailed.

Jenna made a face and commented, "I suppose we can guess where his injury is, considering what he did to that poor woman."

"I shouldn't be glad he was attacked, but I am," Elena admitted.

Stefan just nodded in agreement and squeezed her hand.

In addition, the sheriff reported that the rape victim was now conscious. She had had surgery the evening before for a knife wound to her neck and for a badly broken arm. She was doing moderately well, considering what had happened to her. She was able to remember being attacked up to the point at which the man had hit her on the head. Her description of the rapist matched the man now in custody. She actually had recognized him. She had never spoken to him, but he worked at the garage where she had recently taken her car for repair.

Typically, the man's next door neighbors were interviewed and said he was a quiet fellow, but he had always said hello and waved. It was a total surprise that he was the alleged rapist.

Soon, Stefan walked with Elena to the front door and out onto the porch.

"I guess the rapist was a regular human and not a vampire," Elena said. "I still feel guilty about accusing Damon. I should have had more faith in him."

Stefan nodded and said, "I'm sure he'll forgive you. In fact, I'm sure he's already forgiven you. He gets over these things really fast."

He leaned close and gave her a kiss. He was pleased that she responded, slipping her arm behind his neck and keeping him close.

"I guess it's like he said, carrying the weight of all the things that happened to him over all these years would be a terrible burden if he let it," Elena said.

"Absolutely. But I think he can shrug things off better than most people. Decades of practice."

"You, too?"

"I'm not as good at it as he is, but yes." He gave her another lingering kiss. They both tasted like orange juice and grape jelly. He didn't want her to ask what injuries he had sustained over the years. So far, she hadn't asked. Maybe she didn't want to know.

"Okay," he said. "I need to dash home, shower and all. I'll see you in a while at school."

Elena went back into the house to brush her teeth again and to get her school bag.

"You and Stefan argued last night. I guess you've ironed out your differences," Jenna said to Elena.

"I was kind of crazy last night. I was so upset about Dottie's mother. I'm glad she's doing much better. And that they caught the bastard who attacked her."

"Me, too," Jenna agree.

At the Salvatore house, Stefan showered, dressed and was ready to leave for school when Damon came into the house.

"You're all right this morning? Everything's okay?" Stefan asked.

"I'm great. Totally cool," Damon said with a crooked grin. "Hell, you can't keep a good vampire down."

"Saw you on the news a bit ago. Hunted down the villain, huh?"

"Had to be done," Damon said with a shrug. "Katherine and I went sniffing around the victim's house. The guy's scent was still there and I recognized it. He comes into the Grill now and then. Drinks tequila. I knew who he was and found out where he lives. Can you believe he's listed in the phone book? The guy still has a land line. He did a bad thing. He won't do it again. And on top of that, he really freaked out Elena. That pissed me off. Is she okay this morning?"

"She's fine."

"Good. By the way, assure her that Katherine didn't hurt the witch Carly. She let her go."

"She'll be happy to hear it. Well, I'm outta here. See you later," Stefan said. As he went to his car he was relieved to know that Katherine had let the girl go and had then come back to the house. Surely, Katherine had spent some time in Damon's bed, before or after hunting down the rapist, and that was good. Things were back to normal.

A/N So, this is the end of the story. I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks to all of you who read it and to those who reviewed and commented.


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